


Do not disturb

by HanHan_Solo156



Series: We now walk our road together, mein Liebling [1]
Category: Rammstein
Genre: Bad Jokes, Creative sex, Dominant Paul, Drunk Schneider, Eventual Smut, Fluff, M/M, Oh God did I just write that in the tags, Paris (City), Paul gets naughty, Secrets Revealed, Sequel to my former series, Sexual Tension, Stadium Tour 2019, Teasing, Weird Foreplay, awkward moments, poetic stuff, sex with emotions, you will see
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:41:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22575754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HanHan_Solo156/pseuds/HanHan_Solo156
Summary: The enormous Stadium Tour keeps continuing now with changed band dynamics as the two guitarists of Rammstein are officially in a relationship. Sadly, the busy concert schedule hasn't left any spare time for Paul and Richard to enjoy the company of each other properly.It will be changed though when Duo Jatekok makes a suggestion which turns out to be a surprisingly great idea in the end.
Relationships: Richard Kruspe/Paul Landers
Series: We now walk our road together, mein Liebling [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1624369
Comments: 19
Kudos: 115
Collections: Hanhan's Paulchard main series





	1. Invitation in Paris

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all you lovely people in Rammdom! 
> 
> Guess what: you couldn't get rid of my stories in the end even though it almost looked like so when the beginning of 2020 gave me a writer's block. I decided to kick it in the balls and just start writing. Here, you can see the result.
> 
> This idea has been revolving in my head embarrassingly much and I can tell you it will eventually get pretty kinky. I'm already afraid as I'm unfamiliar with writing smut, but hey, as a writer you constantly need to push yourself to the limits and try new things. :D The story is a sequel for my former series, so if you haven't read it yet, I suggest checking it out at first.
> 
> As always, these are just my headcanons and even though the characters and the happenings have been inspired by real life, this story is completely fictional. I love and respect Rammstein from deep down of my heart and their personal life is not my business. I'm just happy they have kindly borrowed their personalities for my use. Peace and love to you, you keep inspiring me.
> 
> I haven't had this much fun while writing for ages and I hope it will be shown for the readers as well. 
> 
> Enjoy and as always, kudos and comments make my heart sing. <3

~***~

Paris 29.6.2019. The second of the two sold-out shows, with amazing vibes. Song by song the audience warmed up, screaming and craving to get some more - and Rammstein was prepared to give the greedy crowd what they wished for. The former concern about how the fanbase would take the new songs ended up being unnecessary: Tattoo, Zeig dich, Puppe, Deutschland, and Radio showed to kindle the burning atmosphere up to the roof and beyond. Even Ausländer, a piece with more experimental techno and poppy elements, was a huge boom: there wasn’t a single person in the audience who wasn’t jumping or partying as it would have been their last day on this Earth. The devotion and enthusiasm of the fans were contagious - their energy was reflected for their favorite performers on the stage as well.

Flawlessly, the catchy song came to its end and as practiced before, the two guitarists approached each other while Till stepped back, patiently remaining in the shadows. He knew already perfectly well what was coming next and didn’t want to interrupt: this was Paul’s and Richard’s moment to shine. Thousands and thousands of people had their eyes fixed on the two men on the stage and what was happening next wasn’t going to please everyone. Paul and Richard couldn’t care less - it was nobody’s business to tell them what to do. 

When it was time for _the_ moment to come - and now they could already laugh at it when Paul had fainted when they had tried this the first time - they stopped for a second, like the space and time around them had been suddenly frozen. Glancing at each other with meaningful looks they waited for either to take the lead. It was Paul who reacted first by tilting his head, same time a sweet smirk forming on his face. 

_Du kommer mit, ich dir machen gut_ , he almost repeated the lyrics of the song out loud.

When the quiet permission had been granted from Paul’s side Richard knew what he was going to do next. Swiftly, he took a couple of steps closer, now only inches away from his fellow guitarist. Then he gently put one hand on the back of Paul’s neck and pressed his lips lightly, but passionately, against the other man’s. Those couple of seconds were obviously overt, yet weirdly intimate. Temporarily, they could detach themselves from the roles of world-famous rockstars and enter into their own pleasant world where they were just two ordinary guys in love, not afraid to show the affection towards each other to the world. 

Both of them knew that if they had to describe a perfect moment this would be it. Maybe it was still because of the drugging stage of love hormones flowing inside their bodies, but they simply couldn’t get enough of each other.

When they had to part finally, Richard opened his eyes and before he hurried back to his own spot on the other side of the stage, he whispered to Paul through all the cacophony around them: 

“I love you.”

The other man nodded and flashed a smile bright as the sun itself, but he couldn’t reply anyhow - still, only from the loving look on Paul’s face Richard knew that the words had managed to make their impact.

Paul blinked his eyes which unexpectedly had gotten slightly moist. It took him a minute to realize where he was and what was going on around him. 

_I love you too. So freaking much._

He moved his gaze from Richard’s gorgeous buttocks back to the audience and bowed. As a response, Paul got thunderous roars - the mass was like a pack of greedy lions, going once and for all totally nuts.

In their hearts, the two men know that this was what they were born to do: to express themselves via music, with the support of the most important person in the world.

Could life even get any better than this?

~***~

Since the beginning of June, everyone who personally knew the guys of Rammstein could tell that the whole atmosphere of the band had changed. They weren’t only succeeding with their careers - of course, the magnificent auras of the sold-out shows kept amazing them every single time - but one thing that couldn’t be ignored was that the two guitarists’ marital status had been officially changed during recent weeks. The rest of the band accepted and supported the relationship genuinely so Richard and Paul didn’t have to hide their affection from them anymore. For the hungry public and media, it was different though and to avoid misunderstandings, they decided that yes, they could banter them a bit, but not reveal too much yet. Of course, their intimate smooching moment on the tour had raised some questions. People were speculating was it just an act or perhaps something more serious, craving for juicy gossips. The couple had kept their mouths shut about the kiss: the details of their relationship should stay only between them and their closest friends. After all, Rammstein was about provoking, so it wasn’t anything new that two of them were kissing on stage, shaking the supposed straight sexual norms a bit. Who even had the right to define normal in this mad world they lived in? Even worse stuff had happened in their concerts back in the days, so who could possibly even be upset about seeing some male romance in their performance? It was difficult to comprehend yet some people had gotten agitated like it was a big deal.

What couldn’t be ignored either was that being now in a healthy relationship had changed both Paul and Richard and especially, the latter. Even just in a few weeks, the infamous diva and pain in the ass perfectionist had finally loosened his neurotic control to everything a tiny bit. A good example was that in the concert in Berlin, he had accidentally played the starting riff of Puppe wrong and immediately at that moment the rest of the band had been sure that _shit_ , now the whole evening was going to be ruined for everyone. But that hadn’t been the case: when they had gathered after the concert, everyone holding their breaths and getting ready for the explosion, the guitarist hadn’t said a single word about his obviously heard mistake. On the contrary, he had kept praising how wonderful the audience had been and how nice it was to play in their hometown.

Later on the same night at the afterparty, Flake couldn’t have helped it but to ask Paul when Richard hadn’t been around: “What have you done to him? Like you have suddenly tamed the wild beast or something. We should be thankful to you.”

When he had heard the question, Paul had looked in the other direction and mumbled: “I don’t know what you are talking about because I haven’t particularly _done_ anything to him.” Then, even in the dim lighting, Flake had seen the dreamy glimmering in his friend’s eyes when he had continued: “Maybe it’s that famous love everybody keeps talking about, who knows.”

Rumors told that the two guitarists shared a cryptic pre-concert ritual and even though nobody wanted to know further details about it, it seemed to have been effective. It positively had influenced their playing and performing as by each concert, they seemed to get only better at what they were doing. 

Good vibes were revolving around them - the whole band was more than pleased to welcome all the positivity they could get now while being in the middle of all of the hassle and haste of their biggest tour this far.

Tonight in Paris, once again, the concert had been outstanding and had left everyone in an excellent mood. Even the usually sullen guys from the pyro team were sharing champagne and hugging each other, as well as the band itself, obviously.

For whatever reason tonight, Schneider was having a stronger adrenaline boost than usual. He desperately needed to release all the energy he had sucked from the intense concert, so he decided to entertain everyone by singing, yelling and dancing on the benches and the tables of the backstage. One of his dearest hobbies was to make up weird victory songs of his own.

“WHOooooo aaaARE THE CHAMPIOOOONSSSSSS, YEAAAH! WHOooooo aaaaARE THE BEST MUSICIANS OF THIS UNIVERseeeEEEE~?” he kept chanting when some people started to disappear while some kept laughing, curious to see what was going to happen next.

Oliver couldn’t help it but grin and nonchalantly answer to the drummer’s weird homemade masterpiece: “Calling us the best players of this vast universe might be a tiny bit exaggerating, but you are right that today’s show was pretty good.”

When he had heard the comment, Schneider came down from the bench immediately, standing now face-to-face to his bandmate. “Are my old ears betraying me?” He kept scrutinizing Ollie so intensively that the poor bassist had to look away. “All these years of recording and practicing and working our asses off and you think we are only _pretty good_?” the drummer snorted. “You gotta be kidding me!”

“Okay, maybe we were _great_ then,” Oliver admitted, still being the target of the uncomfortable leering from which he wanted to get out as soon as possible. Of course, he had enjoyed tonight’s show and thought it had been excellent, but he wasn’t so good at expressing his excitement while Schneider assumed that everybody was okay with revealing their feelings as physically and loudly as he was used to. He couldn’t get why the bassist was so impassive and took it almost as an insult even though Ollie didn’t mean any harm.

The drummer grabbed his bandmate from the shoulders and looked at him dead serious. “Ollie, we are the most outstanding band these French people have ever seen in their life, do you understand?” 

Finally defeated, Oliver smiled and nodded. “Yeah, maybe I’ll agree with you when you put it like that.” It was still exaggerating, but the comment finally managed to please Schneider so he finally left the poor bassist alone who soon vanished to the toilet and didn’t come back. One could only wonder, why.

Schneider still kept yelling like he was in a football match, trying to encourage the others to join him, but with a lousy success. Richard and Paul - who had been carefully witnessing Oliver’s and Schneider’s incident - looked at each other, grinning and shaking their heads. 

The drummer came to them as well. “You guitar husbands, say something! Were we only _pretty good_ in your opinion?”

Paul put his hand on Schneider’s shoulder and said: “We were pretty _goddamn_ excellent, as always.”

“That’s the spirit!” Schneider exclaimed, finally getting the answer he wanted to hear. He gave a wet kiss on Paul’s cheek and continued: “I know I can always trust my Paulchen. Yayaayayyy!” 

When the drummer was gone, Richard looked at Paul and raised an eyebrow. “What has he been drinking?” Their drummer seemed inebriated even though the only drink he’d had been the pre-show tequila shot hours ago already.

Paul shrugged his shoulders and let out a single chuckle. “Well, maybe we just have to let him enjoy the after-show high. Better not to upset him when he is being that cheerful.”

“Poor Ollie, I bet Schneider scared him off,” Richard stated and didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry.

When the hassle calmed down enough all the people in the backstage were able to relax finally when they didn’t have to listen to dumb chants or be the targets for awkward questions. 

In no time, two modest figures appeared by the door. “Umm...sorry to interrupt you guys, but do you have a minute?”

All of the men in the room froze for a second and turned to see who it could be - it was their warm-up band Duo Jatekok. The sudden interruption was surprising - usually, the piano duo kept minding their own business. The pianists could feel that even though they were enjoying performing with a world-famous metal band, they would always remain in the shadows, remembered as “that duo unknown who played with Rammstein in stadiums”. Their classical touch didn’t please everyone.

Nobody said anything and the two women kept standing by the doorway awkwardly. Adélaïde, the other of the pianists, lowered her head and said barely audibly: “Sorry, maybe we’ll leave you alone, you are the stars of tonight after all.” Then, both of them waved and turned around. “See you later.”

Before they could completely disappear, Paul woke up from his trance and shouted: “Wait!” 

The duo stopped to their places and then Paul stood up and cleared his throat. “You are of course welcome, be our guests.” From a pile of junk, he dug out two extra chairs and gestured at them. “Please, join us.”

The polite guitarist also offered wine for the ladies which they happily welcomed after they had sat down. “Merci beaucoup. You were stunning tonight,” Naïri, the other of the duo said and looked at all of the guys gathered around the table. “So, how are you all doing tonight, any plans for the rest of the evening?”

“Thanks, same for you too,” Paul said and smiled. “Nothing special really, we are tired but as it has become a tradition already, me, Richard, Flake, and Schneider will at least briefly visit the afterparty or otherwise the fans will get mad at us. How about you, do you want to join us?”

Both of the women let out a laughter - they were too scared and shy to join Rammstein’s legendary afterparty even though it would have been perhaps a chance of a lifetime. They looked at the guitarist who had been so far the only one who was speaking to them. “Thanks for the offer, but we have to skip for tonight. We are exhausted as well,“ Naïri said.

Then it was Adélaïde who continued: “Actually, we were more interested in your plans for tomorrow. Have you settled anything yet?”

“Well, we all were perhaps thinking to be lazy and do nothing, but we are open to suggestions of course,” Till said at the same time when he appeared somewhere from the shadows, hiding from the over extroverted Schneider. Now when it was safe enough again he sat down by the table with the others and grabbed a beer. “What are you up to?”

The duo looked at each other, like signaling which one’s job it was to describe their idea to the guys. After a brief silence, it was Adélaïde who spoke, as this was her idea in the first place: “Well, my family has a huge summer home, only about one hour away from here…”

“Aha okay,” Till mumbled, his eyes fixed on the woman who was speaking. “Carry on, that sounds promising.”

“So...me or we both actually realized that so far, we haven’t done anything together besides playing and it would be nice getting to know you guys better. What do you think of this idea: your band and your team could join us tomorrow in my family’s summer place and if you like, you could stay overnight.”

Till scratched his chin and thought about what he had just heard for a second. “Yeah, sure, why not, sounds like a nice idea.” He looked at the rest of his band and heard vague murmuring which could be regarded as acceptance. The next show was going to be in Germany so one extra day in France shouldn’t mess up their schedules too much. “So, where is that place of yours exactly?”

Adélaïde smiled - she was relieved that her idea seemed to be accepted. “That’s wonderful to hear, we are more than happy to host you all.” She dug a phone out of his bag. “Wait a minute and I will send you the address.”

Paul gladly volunteered to give his phone number and soon he was browsing a map, curious to see where they were going. “Whoa, that place is HUGE! And you weren’t exaggerating when you said it’s in the middle of nowhere,” he exclaimed. “Do we have to leave our car in some random farmer’s yard and do the rest of the trip with a horse wagon or something?” 

“Well of course not. Even though the road can be pretty muddy and bumpy in the winter, it should be fine now,” Adélaïde replied and chuckled a bit too loud. During the tour, she had gotten her eye on Paul who was both funny and charming. Of course, the pianist kept her tiny crush on herself - they were after all colleagues who barely knew each other. Besides, Adélaïde was well aware that the guitarist had _somebody_ already. Her eyes stopped quickly to Richard who was carefully checking the map with Paul before she continued: “So, are you still agreeing to come with us or is it too isolated for you?” 

Till - who had been listening to Paul’s description of the place - had a dreamy look in his eyes: he loved to be as far as he could from the hassle of big cities every time there was a chance. “Yes, we are all in. Thank you for asking us to join you,” he said at the same time when he was in his mind making plans for swimming naked in the garden’s pond and scare everyone who happened to pass by. Now, the pretty cool idea started to sound excellent. He clapped his hands and stated finally: “Alles klar, so we’ll see you tomorrow then. Would leaving at 12 pm be fine?”

Nodding, Adélaïde said: “That would be perfect.”

Then, both of the pianists stood up and Adëlaïde continued with a shy smile, meant especially for Paul. “We wish you all a good night and have fun at the afterparty, but don’t stay for too long,” she teased. 

“Good night for you too, see you tomorrow,” all of the guys replied at the same time before the piano duo was gone.

Everyone in the backstage remained silent, digesting what they had just settled. Richard leaned back from his chair and tried to comprehend what was going to happen tomorrow. To be honest, even though it was flattering that the girls were eager to host them for tomorrow, he couldn’t help but to be secretly disappointed while he might have had other ideas - including _only_ his dear little Paulchen who he didn’t want to share with tons of guests.

Most of the guys soon left to get ready for the evening and when he had made sure that it was only two of them left Paul sat on Richard’s lap astride without even asking for permission. These moments when they were by themselves were sadly rare and he desperately needed some affection from his lover after a long and a busy day. “Is everything okay? I can see from miles away that something about the former discussion is bothering you,” he asked, a hint of worry in his tone.

Richard smiled and entwined his arms around the other man, happy to be this close to him finally without any curious eyes around them. “Everything’s totally fine, you little mind reader,” he teased and gave a tiny smooch on Paul’s forehead. “I just wondered that…”

“What is it, are you not feeling well? We can make a little lie and tell them that you are sick. I can pretend also that I don’t feel well, so we could stay at the hotel tomorrow doing nothing if you want.”

Shaking his head and chuckling slightly for the tempting suggestion, Richard said: “Even though it sounds lovely indeed, we can’t lie to the girls when they have been so nice to us. And it’s suspicious if we both happen suddenly to be ‘sick’ at the same time.” He remained silent for a while before he admitted: “I don’t want to sound rude or anything, but I actually had some other plans for tomorrow.”

“Oh,” Paul said and tilted his head. “And may I ask what has been in your mind then?”

Looking at the other man in his lap straight in the eyes, a sly grin slowly forming on his lips, Richard lowered his voice and said: “I would have preferred to spend the whole day with _you_ , doing whatever we could when we would have had time, at least once.” He rested his head on Paul’s shoulder and closed his eyes. “It’s been busy like hell recently. I have missed being with you like this longer than 5 minutes before somebody wants something again from us.”

“I’m afraid that it’s the price we have to pay for being famous. Somebody is always wanting something,” Paul said and sighed. “Your plans sound perfect, but as you said, I don’t want to be impolite either.”

“Yeah...I’m just sad that we haven’t had any proper time together since forever. Always being too tired or too busy. It’s cool that people like us, but would be nice to be just a nobody for a while.”

“It’s lovely to hear that you have missed me. I have missed being with you too,” Paul said and stroked Richard’s hair. “I’m sure that when this tour is over you will get tired of me being around you constantly as I just can’t resist you.”

Richard looked up from Paul’s shoulder and snorted. “You silly little man, of course, I’m not getting tired of you.” He came only inches away from the other man’s face and whispered: “ _Never._ Don’t you dare to claim otherwise.”

“I should record that for the future when you start complaining about me,” Paul joked and as a revenge, got a nibble to his ear.

“How can I get tired of you when I know nearly nothing about you and your darkest secrets yet,” Richard said and growled. “There’s a lot of research to do, so _be prepared_.”

Paul rubbed his sore ear and wondered did the temperature of the room just suddenly increase or why his cheeks were on fire. “Well, _excuse me_ mister but I suggest _you_ to be prepared to be surprised as _I_ will make sure I’m always gonna be one step ahead of you.”

“I bet you don’t dare to try,” Richard said mysteriously, enjoying their bantering game a bit too much. 

But before Richard could even blink his eyes and make up something to annoy his lover, Paul clashed his lips against him, shutting Richard down with a hungry, wet kiss. And as Paul very well knew, Richard was incapable of resisting so Paul ruthlessly squeezed the other man tighter against himself.

_First surprise succeeded: one point for Paul Landers._

While being busy with investigating each other’s tongues and mouths, they didn’t comprehend that Flake was behind them before they heard a nervous cough which forced them to part from each other. “Sorry to interrupt you guys, but were you going to come to the afterparty with us? Schneider is going crazy if we are late.”

Paul and Richard kept panting in a steady rhythm, eyes fixed on each other’s when Richard barely managed to answer: “Umm...yeah, sure, we...ummm...” He didn’t realize that there were actually words coming from his mouth while he was more interested in studying Paul’s eye color. After all these years, the hue kept amazing him. “We’ll be there in a minute, Ollie.”

Flake shook his head - Richard was so high on Paul apparently that he couldn’t even say his bandmate’s name correctly at the moment. The vague reply hadn’t been very convincing. The keyboard player decided that if Paul and Richard wouldn’t come, he couldn’t care less, even though Schneider would go mad as he hated people breaking their promises and being late. 

_Jesus, those two really need to get laid as soon as possible or some poor soul will find them doing something more than just French kissing in the fucking backstage,_ Flake thought bitterly before he left.

Hesitantly, Paul climbed off from Richard’s lap. “We’ll figure something out, don’t worry dear,” he whispered with pure honey in his voice. “I’m not gonna let you go so easily.”

Richard gulped and fought back the urge to overthrow Paul on the carpeting - the risk of getting caught was too high though so he simply nodded and grinned. _Can’t wait what he is up to._


	2. The preoccupied minds

That morning, Richard was woken up by an annoying tickle on his cheek, followed by a loud, cheerful voice right next to his ear: “Guten Morgen!”

 _What the hell is this torment?_ Richard thought and covered his ears with a blanket. 

It didn’t seem to work though as his precious blanket was thrown away. Then, the tickling continued and the voice kept going on, as annoyingly cheerfully as at first: “You have been snoring, honey. Pretty rough afterparty, wasn’t it? Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to stay up ‘til 5:30, but I enjoyed dancing with you so much that I couldn’t help it.” 

Being still in his unconscious stage, Richard couldn’t put his finger on who was speaking and where he was. He scratched his cheek and buried his face this time to his pillow, ignoring the constant rambling.

Soon, his pillow was also thrown away. “C’mon you Sleeping Beauty, we don’t have the whole day!” Richard’s intruder shouted and laughed.

Maybe it was because of the Sleeping Beauty being mentioned or his precious bedclothes disappearing one by one, but finally, Richard hesitantly opened his eyes and started to realize who had been disturbing his blissful sleep. “Well... good morning to you too... Paulchen...” he mumbled and rubbed his tired eyes. “You seem so...eager. What is going on?”

“Thank God, finally! I was sure that you wouldn’t wake up and I would have to make some pretty goddamn good excuses for the guys who are waiting for us.” Paul grinned and took Richard’s hand. “Do you remember what is happening today?”

 _Waiting for us? Why in the hell?_ That didn’t sound very promising. Richard gave a tiny peck to Paul’s hand and said: “Not really, but I certainly hope it involves you.” Then, he moved his sly gaze to Paul and added: “Can you come here back to the bed with me?”

Paul chuckled. “I’m afraid that’s out of the question, even though how much I would enjoy it.” He tilted his head and stated with a serious tone: “Just to remind you that we yesterday promised to Naïri and Adélaïde that we are leaving to their place at noon.”

“We promised what to whom?” Richard asked confused and let go off Paul’s hand. He moved into a sitting position on the bed and scratched his head. “What on Earth has happened yesterday? Am I getting so old that I just can’t remember it?”

Paul tried to ignore the gorgeous sight of Richard with only in his boxers and looked past him to the wall when he said: “Well, perhaps the wild afterparty had something to do with it that your memory is not in it’s best fit this morning, but our warm-up band Duo Jatekok wanted to host us in a mansion in the middle of nowhere and we settled that we will leave from here at noon.”

 _Shit._ A vague memory of promising something last night now popped up into Richard’s mind and he froze for a second before he asked: “What...time is it now?”

“Quarter to twelve,” Paul answered. “So, better to hurry.”

Richard was snapped out of his drowsy state completely now when realized what was going on: everyone was waiting for him because he had overslept. _Scheisse._ Paul had been so kind that he had waited for him though. 

“Just give me a minute and I’ll be ready,” Richard said and jumped from the bed. He put on the first clothes he found on the floor, not minding so much how he must have looked. 

At least he hadn’t messed up his luggage too much, so without even checking whether he had everything he needed for staying overnight, Richard just closed the zipper of his bag and announced: “Let’s go.”

After the brief, but oppressive run to their car, it was a relief to finally sit down. 

Schneider turned to the two guitarists, smirking: “Well, good morning to the guitar husbands as well.” His gaze stopped especially to Richard’s shirt. “I assume you had a rough night when even your shirt is backwards.”

In his hurry, Richard hadn’t realized that his colorful shirt was, indeed, backwards looking even more psychedelic than usual. Right now he decided not to care. “Shut up,” he simply replied and put his earphones on. The last thing he wanted to hear this morning was their drummer’s mocking. He couldn’t even get, why in the hell Schneider could look so perky even though he had stayed late at the afterparty as well, but maybe it was better not to know. Instead, Richard sunk himself into music and dozed off.

~***~

The journey was filled with endless bumpy country roads and cows blocking their way occasionally, but when Richard opened his eyes the next time, they had arrived at their destination safely, without any flat tires or crashing wandering farm animals.

Naïri and Adélaïde were already waiting for them and in a traditional French way, they wanted to greet everyone by kissing them on their cheeks immediately they got out from their cars. For the most introverted ones - especially for Flake, who almost accidentally kissed both of the girls on the lips when his accuracy wasn’t so good - greeting by kissing was slightly unpleasant, but they were in a different culture so they had to try to adapt to the local ways as well as they could. Smooching didn’t bother Richard at all though. It came so naturally from him that he started to consider that he could do this at home and confuse everyone on purpose.

After Naïri had received unnecessarily wet kisses on both of her cheeks from Richard, she asked: “Bonjour, ca va?” If Adélaïde had formed a tiny crush on Paul during the tour, Naïri on the other hand thought that Richard was the most charming one from the band. 

With his best French, Richard tried to reply: “Umm...ca va...schön...no, buen...what the hell.” He stopped and tried to find the right words. “...bien. Et toi?”

“Ca va parfait,” Naïri said and tried to hide her chuckle. She was pleased that Richard had at least tried to greet her with her mother tongue even though it sounded goofy as hell with wrong words and a rough German accent. “So, how was your party last night?”

Richard was about to answer, but didn’t have time to do so - like out of nowhere, as it couldn’t have been awkward enough already, Paul appeared behind Richard’s back and entwined his arms around the other man. “Sorry honey, even though you are talented in many things your French seems to be a bit rusty,” he said and turned Richard to face him. Naïri had frozen to her place and couldn’t even imagine what on Earth was happening now when Paul had ruthlessly intruded her and Richard’s little chat.

“What the hell, didn’t you see that I was in the middle of a conversation?” Richard snorted. “It’s pretty freaking rude to interrupt, we are their guests!”

Paul ignored Richard’s words and just whispered with a voice full of pure mischievousness: “Let me teach you orally how _it_ should be done.” Before Richard could even imagine what that _it_ could be, Paul pulled him into a deep and sensual kiss, with his tongue involved - and of course, in front of everybody, the shocked Naïri still right next to them. 

Richard had to admit that Paul was an annoyingly excellent kisser so he couldn’t pull out even though he could feel the confused piercing gazes of the people around them. 

_What the hell is he up to now?_ Richard kept wondering. _In front of everyone? Jesus._

The kissing seemed to last forever and Richard started to see stars dancing in front of his eyes. Once again, Paul had surprised him totally and seemed to be getting good at it. Muffled chuckles could be heard around them and somebody - most likely Schneider - muttered: “They should get a room, for Christ’s sake.”

When they parted, Paul beamed and looked so proud of himself that Richard was sure that the other man was going to explode soon.

_The second point for Paul Landers, the master of surprises._

With his face visibly completely red, Richard whispered so silently that nobody could hear: “W-what was that for?”

Paul simply shrugged his shoulders. “Oh, I don’t know, just felt like I could help you out when you were being so awkward with your tongue skills. Didn’t you like it?”

“Well, of course, but the other people might not enjoy us being like that.” Richard looked everyone around them apologetically before he turned back to Paul. “What happened to Mr. ‘let’s be polite and maintain a low profile about our relationship’?”

“Maybe, I just decided to change my mind,” Paul said casually and lowered his voice. “Plus, somebody has been illegally gorgeous the whole morning so I couldn’t help myself anymore.” He smirked slyly, his eyes glimmering with pride. “Sorry, not sorry.”

“So, you claim that it’s my fault that the beginning of our nice stay here got suddenly super awkward?” Richard didn’t want to admit that Paul taking the control and doing whatever he wanted was sexy as hell, so instead, he kept sulking like a teenage boy.

“Yes, _your_ fault only,” Paul stated his final words and patted his lover’s back before he stepped out of the situation and casually went to talk with the pyro staff. 

Richard cleared his throat. _Oh man, how am I gonna survive the whole day if he is already like that? What does he want?_ In reality, Richard knew very well what they both wanted, but didn’t want to admit it - not even to himself.

~***~

The rest of the day went on with mostly eating, drinking and chatting nonsense. The atmosphere overall was cheery and they were introduced to the French hospitality - it seemed like they possessed an endless supply of delicious food and quality wine. Especially the latter seemed to please Schneider and Flake who were in unusually talkative moods, trying to make everyone laugh with their not so exquisite stories from the past.

“So my dear Flake,” Schneider said and took a sip from his wine glass, “do you remember once when we had a gig in Finland and you got diarrhea so bad that you had to stuff yourself with Imodium because you were so afraid that otherwise, you would shit into your pants on the stage? That would have been an interesting addition to our show, I have to say.”

Everyone around them laughed, but the keyboard player didn’t look pleased when too much about the condition of his intestines was revealed. “Yes, thanks for reminding me. Just to let you know, the medicine worked so I didn’t shit into my pants that night.” Flake blushed a little and then tried to explain what had happened: “It wasn’t my fault though. How would I have known that those damn Finns have so crappy food? They even consider rotten herring as a delicacy, so no wonder why a sophisticated Middle-European got sick there!”

“Well, actually, it is the Swedes who eat the rotten herring, called ‘Surströmming’,” Oliver interrupted the nonsense discussion, with a mysterious look on his face. The silent man seemed to be a walking Wikipedia as he often had correct answers to any useless fact one could come up with.

“Whatever...Finns, Swedes, they are almost the same anyway, so who cares,” Flake answered and tried to change the subject so he wouldn’t embarrass himself any further. He pointed at Schneider and said: “But have _you_ told them about that incident when we were interviewed in Helsinki when _somebody_ stepped on a dog shit on the way to the studio?”

Oliver shook his head and let out a chuckle. “Guys, why do your stories have to involve so much poop? Some people here are still eating so give them some mercy at least.”

But Flake ignored their bassist’s words and continued: “When we were in the studio, the awful smell was everywhere, nobody could hide from it! Everybody must have thought that ok, maybe it’s completely normal that Rammstein smells like shit every day, so they acted like nothing was going on. I heard the staff speaking Finnish with each other and couldn’t get what they said, but they seemed to be disgusted about us. I can only wonder why any Finnish radio channels haven’t been so eager to have us as their guests anymore!”

“Hey, that wasn’t my fault, it was dark in the streets and I couldn’t see shit!” Schneider yelled, trying desperately to defend himself.

“Yeah, literally,” Flake stated, so pleased that he managed to make their drummer uncomfortable.

The two men seemed to have an endless supply of more and more disturbing tales involving poop in different forms. The stupidity of the so-called discussion managed to disturb Richard’s thoughts for a while, but constantly he noticed that his mind was wandering to something else. Physically he was there, but mentally he was far off in his world.

On purpose, he had chosen a place from the table out of Paul who seemed to be his cheerful and talkative self, now laughing along with everyone when Flake and Schneider told embarrassing stuff about their past. Richard noticed that now and then, he tried to catch Paul’s eyes, succeeding in it a couple of times. So far, they had only smiled and nodded to each other. 

Now when it was already late, it was only getting worse as Richard felt all of his senses were being oversensitive for anything Paul was doing: even the simple things which usually weren’t even noticed like how Paul elegantly held a wine glass with his long, dexterous fingers, how explicitly he licked his lips while he was eating the dessert tiramisu and how he positioned his hand below his chin when he was listening politely to when people were talking to him, nodding occasionally ensuring his company that he was still there and listening. Richard was sure that he could even sense Paul’s scent from the other side of the table even though it must have been impossible. Everything Paul did was illegally adorable and it annoyed Richard to realize how this one little man was able to make his knees so weak with his existence only.

All of his life, Richard had practiced hard to be in control of everything, getting talented at it by the years. He had always considered himself independent, not needing anyone close to him. Hell, just now he realized how wrong he had been in the end. How frightening, yet so tempting.

_Fuck, what am I supposed to do now?_

With Paul, they had decided that they would proceed with slow steps in their relationship and of course, Richard appreciated the decision - he admired their open and honest affair, so maintaining it meant life to him. But at the same time he couldn’t help it that the incidents of that one fateful night - when Paul had almost ripped Richard’s clothes off and forced him into sexual intercourse - revolved around his head. A lot. It had scared Paul off which meant that afterwards, he had been more careful with taking any kind of action that would lead them into a similar situation. To be honest, Richard was slightly disappointed as day by day, he wanted, _needed_ , more of Paul. It was visible in his dreams which were getting disturbingly vivid, with only one person and one single theme. 

Now it seemed to be changed when Paul had suddenly kissed Richard in front of everyone very sensually without prior warning. The man’s words and actions were conflicted. What was his purpose with all of this bantering?

Tonight, Richard was sure that either he had to act as everything was completely normal or he had to show Paul that he was ready to take the next step in their relationship - the final step that would prove that they weren’t merely friends anymore.

In their hearts, they both knew that getting intimate physically was only a matter of time at this point. Their bodies seemed to be ready, but the right situation hadn’t been found yet. The truth was that a perfect situation didn’t even exist - they just had to take their moment whenever there was a chance, but the idea of getting more intimate was so scary that neither of them had the guts to do it. After all, they shared a long history, strong feelings growing towards each other slowly - plus, neither of them barely had experienced being with a guy before so they didn’t know how to even start. It was like regressing into a teenage stage, being scared of the unknown world of sexuality.

How the brain and the body connected was treacherous: consciously, Richard knew that it wasn’t the right place to think about any kind of intimate thoughts while they were around friends, but he couldn’t help it. He tried to distract himself by thinking as unsexy things as he could: Till humping Flake’s pale butt in Bück dich, his first job at an old lady’s house, wiping dust from her stuffed freaking dead poodles and those early days of Rammstein when they all had been so nervous that they had been either high or drunk during gigs, ending up them throwing up after most of the shows. Not very charming images to begin with. 

But of course, when he was already in a state so fragile the disturbance managed to work only for a while. Richard’s mind was so occupied with the _freaking Landers_ that the thoughts meant to be unsexy were changed in his brain in imaginative ways: instead of Till humping Flake, he now saw himself kneeling in front of Paul naked, him giving Richard orders what to do. It was embarrassing for Richard to admit that his vivid sexual dreams often contained Paul dominating him - maybe the image of Paul being on top of him on that one night had burnt on his retina forever. 

And when he tried to think about his first job at the weird lady’s house with the poodles, his treacherous mind created a picture of Paul in a housemaid costume bending over for him. Yes, even though not particularly a housemaid, Richard often fantasized about him and Paul having some kind of weird costume plays. 

Last, he thought about their early days, but when he tried to recall the awful nauseous feeling after inebriated gigs in some terrible hellholes, he remembered how Paul had always taken care of him, always been by his side through difficult times - and how many times they had shared a bed when it was “cheaper to have five hotel rooms instead of six”. Yeah, what a lousy excuse it had been, but they both seemed to have been convinced about it. Back in the days, when Richard had enjoyed Paul’s warmth in narrow bunk beds a bit too much, he had desperately tried to insure himself that he wasn’t gay and the last thing that could happen was to form a crush on his fellow guitarist, for Christ’s sake. Richard chuckled himself bitterly when he thought how well that “promise” had worked in the end. 

That weird kiss when they had come here didn’t make this any easier - Richard still wondered why the hell Paul had done that so visibly in front of everyone. Maybe there was some kind of dark, dominant side in Paul that Richard hadn’t completely seen yet - only glimpses now and then. 

And even though he didn’t want to admit it, he desperately wanted to know more about that dark side.

The words Paul had said from _that_ night started to echo in Richard’s already messy mind:

_I want you. Now. And why do I have a feeling that I’m not alone?_

Richard gulped and cursed the burning feeling in his crotch that his thoughts had caused. _Great, how fucking great. A very good timing you have._ He crossed his legs and hoped that nobody would notice anything and ask, why he was so quiet. In moments like these, he wished he could be a woman. At least being aroused because of your attractive spouse being adorable all around the house wouldn’t be so visible to everyone.

Richard cooled his nerves - and crotch - down for a while when he finally decided that he couldn’t take it anymore. He stood up and announced: “Hey, I’m sorry, but if it’s okay, I’d like to take a tiny nap, I’m still tired after yesterday.” In reality, he wasn’t tired at all, but he couldn’t be around everyone now in this state.

“Yes, of course, it’s ok,” Adélaïde said and looked worried. “Is everything alright, do you need something?”

 _Oh you poor girl, you don’t want to know what I would need right now…_ “I’m...fine yeah, thanks. I just...ummm...need a bit of rest,” Richard said and tried to sound as normal as possible even with his slightly shaky voice. “No need to worry about me. See you guys later.”

Paul raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth, about to say something, but he was too late as Richard seemed to be in a hurry. _Why is he acting so strange?_ Paul decided that he would follow Richard as soon as he had a chance. During the day, he had kept wondering had the public introduction kiss have been too much for his lover, but he couldn’t read Richard’s mind so he had to ask it personally when they were just the two of them.

 _Damn, I have no idea what might be going on. Did he like it or is he annoyed at me?_ Paul kept worrying before he was snapped out of his thoughts when the people around the table started to chat again after Richard’s sudden disappearance.

~***~

About half an hour later Paul was finally able to retreat from the gathering when Flake started to argue with Oliver about that freaking Swedish rotten herring again. They were so sunk into their debate that they didn’t even notice when Paul sneakily just left the table without saying anything.

Paul tried to arrive in their room as quiet as possible when he thought that Richard was sleeping. When he got to their room though, he was surprised when he noticed that the door wasn’t locked and when he looked at it more thoroughly he noticed that it was broken. _Hmm, that’s odd._ For some reason, it made him a bit worried but he tried to ignore it now.

When Paul stepped into their room, being as quiet as he could, he realized that his effort had been useless. He stopped by the door and laughed when he saw Richard casually lying on the bed, propped on one arm, far from looking tired. He actually looked like he had been waiting for Paul this whole time to come. “Honey, that’s not how you take a nap,” Paul said and looked around. “What have you been doing here, some shady business I don’t know about?” 

Richard quickly stood up from the bed and approached Paul moving his hips flirtingly. He stared at the other man fervently, like a predator who had just found his prey “Well, I just felt like I had to be alone for a while,” he said and entwined his arms behind Paul’s neck, stroking his hair. “To be honest, I was distracted by _somebody_ so I couldn’t take it anymore around the other people.”

The vague statement made Paul’s stomach to do flips. “A...ha, and what do you mean by _it_ may I ask? Are you angry at me about what happened earlier?”

“Yes, it was embarrassing and distracting, but I can’t say I’m angry at you, as it is impossible because...” Richard said and pressed himself tight against Paul. The other man almost startled when he felt a hardness against his crotch. 

“Somebody is so fucking gorgeous...” Richard continued and nibbled Paul’s ear, “wonderful and simply _perfect_ who makes me go crazy so I can’t concentrate on anything right now.”

Paul shivered for the sudden intimacy - he had expected that Richard had been tired or angry at him, but now he was getting what was going on. “Well…” he started and sighed, “all I could say is that you are not the only one who’s been having a hard time focusing tonight, you little bastard.”

Leaning back and staring at Paul with wide eyes, Richard said: “Oh? Didn’t expect to hear that as you seemed to blend in so well, minding your own business while I was desperately trying to hide my difficult time.”

Snorting, Paul put his hand to Richard’s back, pulling him back against his body. “You sure are impossible, you sexy little motherfucker,” he said and moved his trembling hand to Richard’s ass and squeezed it not so gently. "Youjerk have distracted me the whole day. You deserve to be punished for harassing me.”

Richard licked his lips and looked even more sly. “It’s interesting that you came up with the topic as I have something I need to ask from you loosely related to punishing.”

“O...kay? And what on Earth does that mean?” Paul wasn’t very convinced as Richard looked aroused, but amused at the same time, like he could crack up any time soon.

Next to their bead, there was a drawer and Richard pointed at it. “That one there is holding a secret.” 

After nothing happened, Paul got restless. “Honey, I’m dying in curiosity, so show me.”

“Are you sure?” Richard asked and looked at Paul straight in the eyes. “It might not please you.”

“For fuck’s sake, show me, it can’t be that bad.”

“As you wish,” Richard whispered and had a difficult time to hide his laughter when he opened the drawer and pulled something from there. 

When he came back, he kept hiding the stuff behind his back.

“Reesh, what the hell is it?” Paul tried desperately to peep behind his lover’s back, but didn’t succeed when Richard had quick reflexes - he was enjoying the bantering way too much.

“Well, you should know it yourself as I found these from your luggage…” Richard said with a husky voice, “and I need some explanations.”

Before Paul could say anything or even complain why the hell Richard had been digging his luggage without permission, the other man grinned and showed what he had been hiding. “I guess you have some secrets you haven’t told me about yet, but I’m dying to know all the details.” 

Paul’s eyes grew wide in shock when he saw two items in Richard’s hands. He went completely pale from horror before he mumbled with a shaky voice: “O-oh man, y-you weren’t supposed to find those…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, I'm at the same time so scared and excited about the next chapter. X'D   
> Thanks for reading!


	3. Presents unwrapped

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I don't even know what to say anymore... From now on, I warn you that it's getting pretty kinky and weird, but loyal to my own style, it's going to be more about feelings and sweet stuff rather than just mere, fleshy sex.  
> I honestly have no idea why this kind of stuff is created in my imagination, but please don't hate me for this.
> 
> Most importantly, enjoy the ride. I have no control to my characters anymore, they live their own life it seems.

Both men sat on the bed and remained silent, Richard trying to hold his laughter. Paul kept fiddling with the bedcovers, cursing in his mind why teleporting hadn’t been invented yet - it could have come in use in this awkward situation. _Oh dear Christ, what might he think about me right now?_

The tension and unanswered questions were getting so much on the restless Richard’s nerves that he was the one who had to break the ice eventually when Paul had frozen to his place. “Hallooo, dear Herr Landers, I asked you a question,” he said and waved his hands in front of the other man’s blank eyes, with no effect. “If you are not going to explain I have to make my own assumptions and boy, how weird they sound in my head right now.” He took the other item, a shiny one, to his hand and looked at it. “What is the purpose of this and why do you keep it in your luggage?”

“I told you that you weren’t supposed to find those,” Paul simply stated with a serious tone, biting his lower lip, still refusing to look at Richard.

“Well, I’m terribly sorry, but it’s not very usual to find a pair of handcuffs and a full bottle of lubricant on top of your partner’s luggage.” Richard placed the handcuffs back on the bed and took the pink bottle in his hand, scrutinizing it with a great fascination. “Strawberry flavor is an interesting choice indeed, wouldn’t have expected that. Did you...have some plans for us tonight or is there something else you’d like to tell me?”

Now, when Richard had said out loud what he had found, Paul blushed and bit his lip so hard that it started to bleed a little. “F-forget it, it’s not what you think,” he hissed.

Still his eyes fixed on the label on the bottle, Richard asked: “Hmm, what do you assume me to think then?”

“I don’t know, let’s forget this whole thing and move on, it’s not a big deal.” Paul turned hesitantly to look at Richard, resembling a little boy who had been busted from investigating his dad’s collection of kinky toys. “Yes, it’s embarrassing, but can you at least stop teasing me?”

Richard though had other plans in his mind. He licked his lips slyly. “I think it’s already impossible to forget as you got caught, my dear Paulchen. I desperately need to know do you have a secret hobby I should know about and in case you have, it’s totally fi-”

“Shut up already!” Paul shouted in irritation and moved his head away when he saw a surprised expression on Richard’s face because of his burst. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that…”

With a thoughtful look on his face, Richard put a hand under his chin and didn’t say anything - if that was the case, he could wait until the end of the world for the explanation as he wasn’t satisfied with Paul’s vague attempt to avoid talking about this.

When Paul quickly dared to glance at his partner again, he asked: “Why do you keep looking at me like that?” 

“Oh, nothing.” Richard tried his best to look as cute as he could hoping his Paulchen would break eventually and explain what was going on and why he was so upset.

 _Why is he making that face? Stop already._ Paul kept pouting, but Richard’s response was to sit even closer to him, their sides now in a proximate contact. He continued staring at Paul and it was simply impossible trying to act like nothing was going on - Paul could feel annoyingly well the steady breathing and the warmth of his partner right on his skin.

 _Fuck, seems like it’s no use to hide anything from him, so maybe he deserves an explanation then._ With a huge sigh, Paul buried his face in his hands and mumbled: “Okay, as you bastard have been digging my luggage without permission I perhaps have no choice here…” 

“I didn’t dig these stuff out, you had happened to left your bag wide open here and I couldn’t help it but notice them right away when I came in,” Richard cleared out with a nonchalant tone, his piercing eyes still gazing at Paul. “Maybe you should have given me a prior warning if you would have wanted to keep these as your secret.”

Paul shook his head. “Whatever then. If I tell you a story behind, will you please never mention this anymore?”

“My lips are sealed.”

 _Why do I have a feeling that I can’t believe you..._ Even though he was doubting, Paul started his explanation - he basically didn’t have a choice anymore here. “Okay...the story goes back to 2012 if I remember correctly when we were busy with touring. In one Meet and Greet, there was a couple around their 40’s who seemed pretty nice and normal. They asked for autographs and all that usual stuff and we chatted quite a bit. But I couldn’t have ever imagined that...they apparently had a secret I didn’t know about until…” Paul took a break.

Richard was sure he was going to explode soon - this was too exciting. “Until when?”

“Well, they...had a certain hobby they told me in detail when everyone else left and I was alone with them.” Paul glanced at the two items and wished that he would have never accepted to take them. But how on earth could he have imagined that these simple items would lead him into this? “They told me enthusiastically about a BDSM club they owned and before I could even comprehend it, they gave me...those. It was like some kind of fucked-up starter pack or something; I don’t really know and I don’t want to know. It’s nice that they were enjoying each other in their sex life, but I don’t get why they had to explain so much to me and offer me this ‘gift’, persuading me to their hobby as well...”

“Well, I’m not complaining,” Richard said, trying to lighten Paul’s tense mood, but with no success. 

Paul snorted to Richard’s comment and continued: “They also said that I’m welcome to join them any time even though I tried my best to explain that I’m not really into that kind of activities. But about the handcuffs, they said that…” Another break occurred and Paul started to laugh silently when he remembered that one of the weirdest discussions with fans ever.

“Said what?”

“This is so stupid, I can’t believe it has come to this...”

Richard grabbed his partner from the shoulders, looking at him with concern. “Just tell me, it can’t be that bad.”

“...ok” Paul took the handcuffs in his hand and looked at them. “They advised me to use these with someone who matters to me and in case I’d need tips, they were more than willing to give them. Then, they handed me a business card and assured me that I was more than welcome to visit their bizarre club, preferably with my lover.

They were also interested if I’d prefer men or women, and said that both would be available in their club but luckily, the time was out and I had a chance to sneak out. I later heard from our manager that some couple had tried to reach me and I was pretty sure it was them. I don’t know, but honestly, I just wanted to stay as far as I could from them.”

Now, it was Richard who was dumbfounded - he almost wanted to burst into laughter, but somehow he couldn’t as he didn’t want to admit that even though this all sounded so funny and bizarre, it was also hot and gave him too many ideas. “That’s...fascinating. Have you ever used those with anyone?” he asked before he even comprehended what had come out of his mouth, created by his dirty mind.

Paul chuckled and shook his head. “Of course not. I didn’t even tell my ex, she wouldn’t have been into this kind of stuff ever. It’s been my secret for years and now you are the first one to know it.” He moved his eyes back to Richard and stated bitterly: “Are you happy now?”

“I’m, of course, more than happy to know your secrets,” Richard said and leaned closer, his eyes stopping to Paul’s lips for a second. “But I’m curious if you claim that you have never used these, why do you keep them in your luggage then?”

“I kinda forget them there and since then they have been like a fucked-up good luck charm or something,” Paul explained vaguely, but didn’t tell the whole truth: yes, there had been a time when he might have been a tiny bit excited to try some new things in his sex life, but never had the guts to do it. 

But what about his current partner then? He didn’t even want to consider that, as he was scared that he might lose his control even thinking about it.

A brief and awkward silence fell upon them. Richard had a feeling that Paul wasn’t telling him the whole truth so he had to burst out: “Have you ever fantasized about using this gift you got with someone special? You know, just for...fun.”

Again, Paul buried his face in his hands. “Oh man, I knew this was going to be a bad idea, but what can I do…” And what was even worse, now when Richard had asked so straightforwardly about Paul’s fantasies, his mind was doing tricks, getting disturbingly creative. _Yes, you are horny and everything, but just please, not now, for heaven’s sake..._

“I don’t get what is so embarrassing about this, I don’t see any problem here,” Richard stated. “And to be honest, maybe now it’s a suitable moment to tell you something that has troubled me a lot lately.”

Paul raised his head from his hands and looked at Richard. “Maybe it’s not actually the fact that you found those items from my luggage that embarrasses me, it’s the fact that…” He gulped and continued: “The fact that even though I was ashamed and angry at myself after that night when I almost...well, you know what.” 

Richard nodded assuringly. “Yeah, I might know where you are going with this, but carry on.” 

“...at the same time, I just keep...fantasizing about...about, well, doing _things_ to you and it’s fucking disturbing,” Paul finally managed to say and looked at the floor, his cheeks on fire. “Today has been like a nightmare, as only one freaking theme revolves in my head and I can’t get it o-”

“...and may I ask you what is that theme?” Richard interrupted even though he knew already.

Paul sighed and clenched his hands into fists while Richard was patiently waiting for his answer. “Just that I’d like to...get intimate with you and it annoys me that am I just this freaking primitive still? Like, you have been so nice and all and I appreciate everything we have been building up thus far, but still, I can feel it inside me that I just want something more. More of _you_.” 

Richard couldn’t help but chuckle at Paul’s unnecessary horror. “Why do you think it is a bad thing to feel like that? To be honest, I would be more worried if it was someone else you’d fantasize about. I’m flattered that I’m occupying your mind right now.”

Paul shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, I guess that it’s maybe too fast or something, I’m still not sure what do we want from each other…”

Taking Paul’s hands suddenly into his, Richard looked at the other man straight in the eyes and said: “You know that I love you, right, or do I have to repeat myself over and over?” 

“Yes, I know and I love you too, just that…I don’t know, I feel like a horny teenage boy,” Paul said and couldn’t meet Richard’s eyes which he could have noticed to be grown wide with excitement if he had dared to check.

Richard cupped Paul’s other cheek and turned his partner to face him. “Guess what: you are definitely not alone with your feelings. Seriously, when we were trying to have a casual dinner with our friends, I was sure I was gonna explode soon.” 

They both looked at each other and couldn’t help it but to burst into laughter simultaneously to disentangle the former tense atmosphere. 

“Hey, I’m not even joking!” Richard exclaimed, but it wasn’t very convincing as he had a hard time maintaining his poker face.

When they managed to calm down Paul shook his head. “Dear Christ, what is wrong with us…”

“I think it’s completely normal so I don’t know why you have to make so big deal of this. Plus, I’m just relieved as hell that I wasn’t alone.”

“And I kept thinking when I was pretending listening to Flake’s and Schneider’s stupid stories that you must be upset to me about something,” Paul added.

“Going to a ‘nap’ was the dumbest excuse one could come up with, but what else could I have done? I just needed to get out as soon as possible.”

Paul smiled. “Not very creative, indeed.”

They both glanced at each other nervously and Richard put his arm around Paul’s waist, noticing that the other man startled a bit when he turned his head to the other side. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of, as I desire you as much you desire me if that makes you feel any better.” Then, Richard lowered his voice and continued: “With all honesty my dear, I am willing to do anything with you tonight, so go ahead, surprise me. I’ll let you be in charge.”

Exaggeratedly slowly, Paul turned to look at his partner who was now only inches away from his face. “W-what did I just hear?”

Richard turned his face to look at a painting on the wall. He had a dreamy glimmer in his eyes when he said: “It’s totally different now than on that night when we confessed and were drunk and let’s say...maybe a bit too emotional to think about anything sensibly.” He sighed and closed his eyes. “I can’t help it, but I have constant and highly sexual dreams about you, so I’d say I’m ready. You can decide now what you want to do with me, because I’m yours. Now and forever.

I need you as a whole, and if that’s wrong for some reason, then God help me with my misery, as I don’t know how long I can stand it like this when you are so close, yet so far from me.”

Paul couldn’t believe it: Richard was offering himself to him. Now, he suddenly didn’t know what he should do or how he should be. “A...ha,” he managed to say something that distantly resembled a word. 

“Whatever it is you want to do with me, I’m fine with it as I just _can’t_ resist you.” Richard turned to Paul and a grin was forming on his lips. “Just tell me what to do and I will follow. More than willingly.”

 _Oh shit, I can’t believe this._ “Y-you can’t be serious, we are at our friends’ place and you are talking like that…” Paul got goosebumps just from merely thinking about all the possibilities of what they could do tonight. “I-I...didn’t say anything to the others and now they might assume that something is wrong and they might start looking for us soon.”

“Like it matters anyhow, but as you want,” Richard stated his final words.

Paul looked around the room. What might be the easiest solution now? To chicken out and go back to the others, pretending that they were sleeping or something as lousy cliché excuse? But that wouldn’t make any sense now as he wanted something completely different and had been acting like that the whole day. Why was it suddenly so frightening to take a step forward?

Christ, Richard had given Paul his permission, so what there was to even contemplate. _If it’s not now, then when?_

_Perhaps is time to act more and ponder less. Just do it._

Before even realizing what he had just decided, Paul stood up and flashed a smile. Richard kept sitting on the bed and stared at his partner, curiously waiting for what he was up to next.

Paul took a chair and looked at Richard meaningfully. “Just in case somebody gets too nosy....” he said and positioned the chair against the door with a broken lock. “I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t like Schneider or Till to walk in if we happen to be...in the middle of _something_.”

Richard blinked his eyes in surprise and mirrored Paul’s smile. He hadn’t been this excited in ages - it was like early Christmas. “Okay...didn’t expect that but I like your style.”

When Paul came back, he sat on Richard’s lap and gently started pushing his lover down to the mattress. Something snapped in his head and it was like his usually well-mannered personality changed when he said in an imperative tone: “If that’s the case, we’ll go with my rules tonight. In the end, you jerk deserve to be punished for digging my luggage without permission. Do you agree with me?”

The only thing Richard could do underneath Paul was to nod meekly. A knot that had been forming in his stomach since this morning was tightening and his crotch was ignited. He had secretly wished to see a new side of Paul and this sounded promising. “Y-yes, I agree with you. As I said, I’m all yours tonight and I’m a man of my word.”

“Excellent,” Paul whispered and pinned Richard from his wrists against the mattress and then clashed their lips together to a wet and prolonged kiss.

Richard was about to ask what Paul wanted to do with him, but right now it was impossible - and maybe it was the best not to know. He could gladly stay in this position for the rest of his life if that was what Paul wanted from him. _Please, just have your games with me, I don’t care about anything else right now._

Before they would pass out from arduous kissing, they withdrew with a loud smack. Through his panting, Paul whispered with a husky voice: “Here’s what you are gonna do: dress up nicely for me, show me the best of you. And this time, make sure it’s not gonna last an hour for you to prepare or I’ll get mad. Trust me, you don’t want to see the consequences.” He tilted his head and scrutinized Richard’s expression with fiery eyes. “Any further questions?”

“N-no.”

“Good. Now go.”

Paul let Richard out of his grip and watched him gather his stuff and disappear swiftly in the bathroom. It was close to impossible to wait, but Paul tried to calm his frantic nerves down. He had an idea of what he wanted to do and after he had dressed up himself in record time, he put the handcuffs in his pocket, smirking by himself and waited for Richard to come back from his grooming session.

Yes, his idea was ludicrous, but he wanted to have some fun now - they both deserved it as it had been so busy lately. _And it’s not so bad in the end, so I bet he likes it,_ Paul assured himself before he might start to question his idea. He had to try to maintain his dominant role even though he was nervous as hell, his whole body shaking from boyish alacrity, but as Richard implied to like the weird role, he didn’t want to disappoint him.

When Richard came back from the bathroom lightning fast, he had to stop to his place when he saw Paul and exclaim in astonishment: “Whoa!”

His eyes grew wide with shock and adoration and he whistled at the same time when he leered his partner from head to toe. “...how is it possible that you can look now even more stunning than usual? That’s...so unfair.”

Now it was Paul who got shy. He looked down at himself: he had a tight tank top, uncomfortably tight leather pants and combat boots that matched his slightly gothic look. “Nah, it’s not so special.” 

Paul moved his gaze back to his partner and Richard found it absolutely adorable to see that he had put some eyeliner as well, nicely contrasting his already gorgeous eyes.

“You should use make-up more often, it suits you.”

“Speak for yourself, you sexy little motherfucker,” Paul added quickly before he would shy away from this whole plan. He had a difficult time to maintain calm as he just wanted to start to unbutton Richard’s vest right here, right now. As well as Paul, Richard had ridiculously tight pants - and three unnecessary, yet so hot, belts - and had carefully put eyeliner and groomed his hair nicely. He looked like a male bird showing his feathers to the one he wanted to lure into a mating ritual with him.

When they had stared at each other like they would have met via an online dating site, now seeing each other for the first time and gotten scared about how attractive the other looked, Paul realized that Richard was waiting for him to go on. 

Paul stuck in his original plan and dragged a chair, gesturing at it. _Okay, it’s gonna be weird as shit, but I have nothing to lose, so here we go._ “Sit down.”

When Richard raised an eyebrow and looked puzzled, Paul discarded all of his former timidness away, getting back into his role. “Don’t make faces to me, you said already that you are willing to do as I say, so sit down.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Richard mumbled by himself: “Whatever you say, dear.” Then, he followed Paul’s command and sat down, crossing his arms and legs. Paul stood right behind him but didn’t mind to explain anything. He had an expression on his face that Richard couldn’t read.

In front of them, there was a huge mirror and it was uncomfortable for Richard to be this close to his own face. “Okay, what do you want me to do now?” Richard asked and tried to ignore his unsure eyes staring at him.

“Do you find yourself attractive?” Paul asked, disregarding Richard’s former question. He had kind of a script in his head how he would proceed and hoped that he could surprise his partner totally.

Richard snorted. “What kind of question is that?”

Paul leaned himself on Richard and entwined his arms tightly around him. “My love, you ask way too many questions tonight, so can you just trust me?” Paul kissed Richard on his cheek and rested his head on his shoulder. They both looked at each other from the mirror when Paul repeated: “I asked do you find yourself attractive?”

“Well, that’s a weird question, but...no, not really. Maybe 15 years ago I was decent but can’t say the same now. Getting old is not flattering, you know?”

“And why do you think so?”

“What kind of psychoanalysis are you trying to perform to me?”

Paul whispered right next to Richard’s ear, pretending to be irritated: “It’s not your job to ask questions here, so just answer me.”

“Okay, okay, hold your horses Paulchen…” Richard rolled his eyes and turned back to look at himself from the mirror. “I don’t know...I just feel like I’m getting uglier and fatter every year and I’m pretty sure that I have seen my best days already, but at least I try to enjoy my life with you.”

While Richard was rambling, his mind occupied, he didn’t realize that Paul was sneakily unfurling Richard’s crossed hands, having something in his mind.

“That’s funny,” Paul said, being busy behind Richard’s back. “I’m afraid your answer is not accepted, my dear.”

“What, was this some kind of fucked-up test I didn’t pass? At least I replied, so I did as you said. I was just being honest.”

Paul shook his head. “Just that everything you said was wrong.”

“Aha, so what might have been the correct answer then?” Richard asked and didn’t dare to look behind his back.

Paul breathed right next to Richard’s ear: “The only acceptable answer is that _you_ are the most gorgeous creature on this planet and no one can claim otherwise, especially not you.” He placed his hands on Richard’s cheeks and lifted his head, now forcing him to look at the mirror. “And you know what is even better?”

“Well, _no_ , but I’m dying to know.”

“It’s that all of this, sitting in this chair now,” Paul started and gently stroked Richard’s face, ”is completely _mine,_ mine only. And you are not allowed to disagree with me. _Never.”_

Richard opened his mouth, about to comment, but Paul was one step ahead of him: before Richard could comprehend anything, there was a clicking sound, followed by Paul sitting on his lap astride. He had a smirk of a winner on his face, so proud of himself. “Gotcha!”

_Once again, a point for Landers._

“Did you just…?” Richard started, but words got glued in his throat. _Ok, what the hell, he has actually planned this, I have no idea anymore what to expect..._

“Yes, I did.” Paul positioned himself tighter against Richard’s body. Their groins were now rubbing each other and nothing could be hidden under their tight pants. “While you were busy with rambling, I chained you to this chair.” He smirked at his horrified victim. “So, technically you are on my mercy now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, another annoying ending, but this chapter would have been like +25 pages otherwise. :'')


	4. My divergent shades, only for my special one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, I was afraid I will never finish this chapter, but here we are. Definitely goes to my list of top 5 most difficult writing processes I have ever had, as a) I've been pretty freaking overwhelmed about this shit that is going on around the world (you probably know what I'm talking about, but let's not discuss about it any further) b) sexy stuff has always been difficult for me both reading and writing, but I'm slowly learning as it seems. :'D I also just realized that I have managed to make myself both laugh and cry while writing this one chapter which is pretty... interesting. Damn you Paul when you get too sweet.
> 
> So, with this, I've thrown myself ruthlessly out of my comfort zone and I almost feel a bit dirty. I even considered that do I dare to publish this, but then I thought that what the heck, the story must go on.  
> My hands are shaking a bit when I'm hitting the 'post' button, but maybe at this point we need sweet and cute stuff more than ever.

When Richard got his mind back to the situation from the bewilderment, he said: “Don’t tell me that you flushed the key down the toilet or something and I have to stay rest of my days locked in here…”

“Don’t you worry about that, honey,” Paul answered. He grasped Richard from his chin and lifted his head up, looking at his lover straight in the eyes. “Do you trust me?”

Now they were only inches away from each other’s face and Richard could see that Paul’s pupils were wide - not only from mere lust, but they were full of determination as well. A sight so sexy alone that Richard was sure that he could explode into his pants at any minute now.

“Y-yes, of course, I trust you. There’s no doubt of that.”

With the fingers of his other hand, Paul traced Richard’s features, not bothering to explain too much. All the time their eyes were locked. Richard was totally sure that his pounding heart would burst out from his chest soon - he was full of anticipation and excitement. If his crotch had been feeling uncomfortably heated the whole day, now it was ignited - especially when Paul was restlessly moving on his lap, making friction.

“You should know this,” Paul said, finally breaking the tension between them, “when I say that you are absolutely stellar I mean it and you can’t disagree with me. Or do you have something against it?”

“No,” Richard simply answered, not daring to disagree. Never in his lifetime, he could have believed that he would let anyone chain him to a chair and let somebody sit on his lap, but seemed like with Paul he was ready to make exceptions. And to be honest, it was actually refreshing not to be in control, at least for once in his life. 

“And what you should know is that when you insult yourself, you insult me as well, as you are a part of me,” Paul continued getting more serious. “So, stop it or I will get mad.”

“Es tut mir wirklich Leid,” Richard answered and pouted, making the cutest face he could. “Can you tell me how could I fix this terrible mistake I have made, mein Paulchen?”

“I’m afraid that,” Paul started and licked his lips while Richard held his breath. 

“...it’s not your decision to make.” 

After his statement, Paul closed his eyes and dragged Richard to meet his lips for a hungry kiss. Paul was pleased to notice that his lover responded without hesitation the silent request to ruthlessly enter his mouth. 

To Richard’s annoyance, Paul withdrew on purpose just at a part when they were about to lose themselves. Raising his finger, Paul scolded: “Not too much, too fast.” 

Richard was about to say something against while Paul started to open the buttons of his vest. “We have discussed your control freakism million times.”

“Yes and what about it?” Richard asked with a fake nonchalant tone. _We have more important issues here now than my personality traits so can we just proceed_? he almost said out loud, but instead, kept patiently waiting for what Paul had in his mind.

“I have a feeling that I...” Paul started and paused the unbuttoning for a second when he looked at the other man, “have some investigation to do.” He tilted his head, boyish curiosity in his eyes. “So, are you willing to help me? Are you willing to let go of your control for a while?” 

Richard gulped. “Do I even have a choice at this point?”

“Well, not really, but I just wanted to sound polite,” Paul answered and flashed a smirk.

Then, he moved his hands to Richard’s cheeks and his expression changed to a more serious one for a second. “But honestly, if something I do or say makes you uncomfortable, I’ll stop immediately. Just let me know.”

Richard shook his head. “As I said earlier, do what you want, and I won’t stop you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, totally sure, so just stop your rambling already and keep doing whatever it is in your mind for me. _Please_.”

Paul blinked his eyes and suddenly a mixture of various emotions flushed inside him: desire and lust but also, pure love, adoration, and gentleness. _Did he actually just... begged me to continue?_

_Jesus._

Even though Paul was acting like he was in charge, deep down inside he was uncertain what he was supposed to do with the freedom he had gotten from Richard’s side. Of course, he’d had sexual intercourses numerous times in his life, but never with a man - especially with someone with whom he shared a long history. The realization what was about to happen made him scared him out of his wits for a second: what if Richard would be disappointed at him while he wasn’t so experienced at the male to male intercourse?

Paul glanced at Richard’s pleading eyes in front of him while he realized that whatever they might end up doing, they would most likely just become closer - after all, they both loved each other and nothing was going to change their minds.

_Well, fuck it. As Till used to say: just improvise._

Coming back from his thoughts, Paul cleared his throat. “I promise I won’t disappoint you when you ask so nicely, Liebling.” 

Before Richard could even nod, Paul positioned himself even tighter against his body - if it was even possible anymore - and started at first gently nibbling Richard’s ear, eager to see the reaction. Richard quivered and the extremely sensitive feeling drew out a sound from him Paul had never heard before. The delicate vocalization did nasty things inside Paul and he kept going on not so gently - still being sure that he wouldn’t hurt his partner anyhow though.

Pleased to hear and see that he had managed to get his lover’s attention, Paul continued his teasing and glided his tongue along Richard’s exquisite jawline. Richard closed his eyes and intuitively, arched his head back, giving open access to Paul. He kept enjoying the sensation on his skin and was still making unique sounds: mixtures of gasping, low growling and most surprisingly, something that sounded like feline purring.

Paul stopped and was now again face to face with Richard, curiosity, and amusement in his playful eyes. “Jesus, how are you able to do that? I have never heard anything like it before.”

Still panting, Richard barely opened his eyes when he answered: “A confession: I start making super odd sounds when I’m turned on. Purring, for example.”

Paul’s eyes grew wide and he chuckled. “Really? Is it even possible for a human?”

“Apparently so. I don’t know how it works and why, but it has always happened since I remember. I can’t help it, so sorry beforehand.” Richard let out nervous laughter and looked at Paul with concern. “Just don’t tell anybody, especially not the other guys. I don’t want to give them the pleasure to come up with any imaginative nicknames for me because of this...tendency I happen to have.”

“...wow. Simply wow,” Paul said with a distant voice - he was stunned by the fact he had just learned. “Of course, I’m not telling anyone, but why...why would that even be embarrassing? It’s fucking sexy if you ask me.” Paul moved his hand to Richard’s cheek and continued: “It’s so unique, as _everything_ in you.”

“Thanks, I...guess.” Richard turned so timid after sharing a piece of personal information that Paul was sure his heart was going to melt soon from the sweetness of the other man. Everyone usually thought that his lover had a cocky attitude, but Paul was more than happy to claim that it wasn’t the whole truth. 

“But guess what?” Richard continued out of a sudden.

Raising an eyebrow, Paul leaned closer and whispered: “I have no idea, so just tell me everything.”

Richard let out a laughter. “One thing that all of my exes tended to found entertaining was to unfold how they could release the weirdest sound possible from me.” A grin was forming on his face when he added: “And maybe I should warn you that when I get in the mood, I tend to be noisy.”

Paul’s jaw dropped and he was unable to say anything. 

The confused expression on Paul’s face and the silence made Richard ponder in his mind: _Shit, maybe that was a bit awkward. Did I tell him too much already? He looks nonplussed._

“Wow...how...how fascinating news,” Paul burst out and Richard exhaled, letting his nervousness down. 

Then, Paul grinned slyly after snapping out of his confusion and continued: “Why I have a feeling that I don’t know enough about you yet?” Both his face and voice couldn’t cover the fact that he was full of anticipation. “But tell me, would you like _me_ to find out how I could reveal the weirdest sounds possible out of _you_?”

Richard rolled his eyes and simply shrugged, but didn’t say anything.

“Didn’t we agree earlier on that you were supposed to answer all of my questions?” Paul asked with an imperative tone when he didn’t get a satisfying response.

“Well, I...I suppose that,” Richard started and with a voice that merely could be heard, added: “Yes. Yes, I do.”

“Excellent.”

With the enthusiasm given by the news he had just heard Paul finally managed to open the buttons of Richard’s vest, revealing his chest. Paul’s hands were shaking slightly, but he didn’t care so much about it right now. There were more important matters to think about, like rubbing Richard’s nipple and see what the reaction could be - and it was more than pleasing when Richard groaned and swore silently behind his gritted teeth. He was notably thwarting himself, but Paul was trying his best not to let him.

“You have no reason to hold yourself,” Paul breathed right next to Richard’s ear when he came back. “I will do my best to find out how to make you scream my name.”

Richard didn’t answer but just held his breath, his whole body tense. _Oh, dear Christ, what is he up to… maybe this was a bad idea in the end._

Paul relocated his concentration back to Richard’s chest, but this time he didn’t only rub the sensitive nipple. He closed his eyes, positioned himself better and licked it elaborately. When it inflicted a helpless yelp from Richard Paul couldn’t resist but to go further and take the nipple between his front teeth. Paul was more than pleased when Richard couldn’t inhibit the loud shriek that remained echoing in the room - they could now only hope that the lousy soundproofing wouldn’t expose what their “nap” was really about. 

“Oh God, fffffuck! How did you do that, fucking hell!” Richard exclaimed when Paul’s mouth was full of his nipple, licking and biting it at the same time. The heavy cursing sounded like the best music ever made by mankind to Paul’s ear and it ignited him just more. Without even noting it himself, Paul’s hand was on its way to Richard’s lower parts, on his pelvis and ready to unwrap his several belts.

When Paul finally withdrew from the chest area he grinned by himself, contended about his successful journey. He was even more pleased when he saw Richard’s bewildered face.

“So, how did I succeed? Did you enjoy yourself?” Paul cooed and raked his nails through Richard’s hair which was already a total mess, while the other hand was fatefully close to the intimate parts.

“Y...eah,” Richard mumbled and was ashamed to reveal how aroused he was only about Paul playing with his nipple. It had always been his sensitive spots, a secret he had never told to anyone besides his closest partners back in the days. Richard had come to a realization that he couldn’t keep any secrets from Paul - intimidating, yet somehow so natural that they were sharing now everything.

Paul kept them both busy by peppering kisses to Richard’s neck, massaging his thigh and stroking his hair. His hand was trembling, clearly fighting how he should proceed - Paul knew what he wanted, _needed_ , but almost had an urge to chicken out - technically, it wasn’t an option anymore as they were this far already. Their excitement was anatomically impossible to hide anymore as they were so closely pressed against each other.

When Paul was finished with Richard’s neck - which was now fully mottled, like Paul had left a mark on his property - he tilted his head and looked at Richard with a question mark above him, but didn’t say anything out loud. 

Richard closed his eyes and exhaled heavily. “Just do it.”

“What?” Paul asked and froze to his place. He acted like he didn’t have any clue what his partner meant, but his reddening cheeks might have revealed something.

“Well, just do what you were about to do,” Richard said and opened his eyes. He quickly glanced at his thigh where Paul’s eager hand was giving a hint. “Or were you opening my belts and rubbing my thigh just for fun?”

“I didn’t even say anything!” Paul tried to defend himself, but it was useless - they shared one single brain cell it seemed as they were always one step ahead of what the other one was thinking.

“No need for explanations, you have my permission.”

Paul gulped. They had, of course, seen each other naked numerous times through the years, but this was totally different. He’d had weird one-night stands - they had even witnessed each other with Richard having sex with different groupies back in their frantic, younger days - and steady partners, but now with Richard, his long time friend, Paul suddenly felt like he needed to handle the other man like he was the most fragile finest glass on this planet. 

Closing his eyes, Paul moved his hand from the thigh to rest on Richard’s groin and noticed how the other man got tense, letting out a brittle sound deep down from his throat. Paul knew that what he was about to do next was going to be history: entering the most sacred parts of his companion - and how thrilling it was to think that Paul was the only who at the moment possessed the permission to do it.

It was going to be the next, final step to make it sure that they weren’t mere friends anymore - and _dear Christ_ , how Paul had been dreaming of this since forever, since those awkward times spent in the same tight dressing rooms, sharing the same bunk in several hotels because “oops, the manager just happened to forgot to book the sixth room”. The roaring dam of sensitive feelings that he’d had for Richard since forever, was going to break loose. 

Paul felt how tears of joy and honest affection were burning his eyes - he was still turned on, but he had never felt this tender while having sex. _Damn you Richard, where am I gonna end up with you when you already make me feel like this. You are illegal._

In case he wanted to proceed instead of bursting into crying like a baby, Paul had to push his sudden emotional state to the side and keep going - it was what his lover wanted. 

Paul cleared his throat and with his voice almost breaking, said: “Anything for you, mein Liebling. I’ll do as you wish.”

Then, he started opening the zipper of Richard’s pants and couldn’t even dare to look at the other man’s face that sported an utter stunner. 

But the tense mood was broken when Paul started giggling out of a sudden. 

The laughter seized to Richard as well. “Was?” 

Now, Paul managed to look at his lover and beamed. “If I remember correctly, I didn’t say earlier that you can’t wear underwear.”

Richard shrugged his shoulders. “You said that I should be fast so I didn’t bother to put any unnecessary clothing. I just followed your orders.”

“Well, no big deal as it just makes my job easier,” Paul answered and leaned closer, begging for a smooch, to distract them both.

When Paul finally managed to open the zipper, he grabbed his lover’s rock-solid member - now free from the confinement of tight pants - into his hands and squeezed it with his talented hand not so cautiously. Richard let out a helpless gasp in Paul’s mouth and another undecipherable, low sound. The realization of how much the other man was enjoying himself made it difficult for Paul to keep himself in his own pants - sooner or later, he needed to be released as well. 

_Concentrate. Now. Concentrate. The time for yourself is later. Just make him feel good now._

As Paul was feeling so experimental tonight, an idea popped up into his mind when they withdrew from the kiss. He waved his other hand in front of Richard’s dazed face. “Lick my fingers,” he simply ordered like it was a totally normal thing for them to do.

Richard hesitated for a while and glanced at Paul’s eyes and at the hand, processing what he had been just told to do.

Just about when Paul was going to lecture his lover about how he should follow his orders in every case, Richard not only started to lick his fingers but sucked a mouthful of his long digits - and also, bit them. Now, it was Richard’s turn to be pleased as he had finally gotten Paul off guard.

“Ouch! What was that for?” Paul exclaimed when he withdrew his hand.

Richard smirked and wiggled his eyebrows slyly. “You are not the only creative one here.”

Paul shook his head and grasped Richard’s chin. “Oh mein Gott… you little nuisance...” he said, with a fiery look in his eyes.

“It’s my pleasure,” Richard stated and nodded towards the pink bottle they had left to the nightstand. “Aren’t we gonna use your other...gift as well?” Like Paul, Richard had an uncomfortably sensitive feeling arising inside him so he tried to distract it by humor.

“To be honest, I’d prefer the taste of your flesh instead of some artificial strawberry aroma from 2012.”

Richard’s eyes grew wide as Paul had unintendedly revealed what his plan was. “A...ha.”

When Paul realized the slip that had escaped he looked timid for a second. He cleared his throat and mumbled: “I mean…well...” 

Then, he remembered his role and cleared his throat. “You sure are an arrogant little bastard. And you are still asking unnecessarily many questions.”

“Yes, but my arrogance is one of the reasons you love me right?” Richard said with a husky voice. “I’m just making sure that you wouldn’t get bored of me.”

Paul snorted and before Richard could annoy him any further, Paul squeezed his lover’s member with his now wetted hand as revenge. 

Managing to make Richard stopping talking, Paul smiled by himself. He knew what he was going to do the next time when his lover was getting on his nerves and was more than happy to learn a new fact. 

When Paul moved on to stroke Richard’s sensitive organ in his hand, the other man begun the _freaking_ purring, accompanied by growling. The vocalization was so feral that Paul got goosebumps from it. He needed to finish this off now or both of them were going to explode.

“Richard?” Paul asked silently, unnecessarily officially.

The other man didn’t answer anything as he was far away already. He merely managed to open his eyes.

With his other hand, Paul kept stroking the lower parts while with his other hand he kept his partner in his embrace. “You figured it out already what I was up to but… can I…” he breathed to Richard’s ear and hesitated for a second before he continued: “Suck you...in?”

“For fuck’s sake, stop asking for permissions,” Richard snorted, almost annoyed. “You know my answer already.”

Paul nodded and climbed out of Richard’s lap, giving his numb legs a rest. He kneeled exaggeratedly slowly on the floor and held his breath. 

He would have never believed that he would do this. He had always convinced himself that he was a straight man, but everything had changed drastically recently. Every single step in his life had led him to this: to gratify his lover. The fact that he was about to blow a guy didn’t bother him the slightest bit - especially when it was the man he adored the most in this whole universe.

So, without hesitation Paul closed his eyes, took his lover’s full length into his mouth and placed his hand to massage his balls, getting physically closest as they had ever gotten before - tasting and _feeling_ him with all of his senses. The sensation was intoxicating and it didn’t take long for Paul to get lost into his own thoughts, forgetting the space and time around them.

As Paul had assumed and hoped, at first, Richard kept keeping voices and squirming but as he was getting closer to the edge, Paul realized at some point that his lover was simply trembling and turned scarily silent.

Paul had a bad feeling about it. _Shit, something must be wrong._

When Paul came back to Richard’s lap he saw what was going on: Richard was crying, biting his lower lip to block him from sobbing out loud. 

_Oh fuck._

Paul cupped the other man’s cheeks and the former lust was pushed away with a rush of empathy and gentleness.

“Liebling, is everything alright, did I hurt you? Do you want me to stop? Was it too much?” Paul rambled in slight panic when he saw how broken Richard looked.

Richard shook his head. “No, no. It’s...totally opposite.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, I just...I…” Words hanged on the tip of Richard’s tongue, but he couldn’t say out loud what was bothering him.

Paul embraced Richard and buried his head into his hair, enjoying the familiar scent which made him feel like he was at his own little sanctuary. “You know you can tell me anything.”

Richard still trembled but managed to gather his thoughts eventually. “While you were doing your thing I just realized that… it’s the first time in my life when I have sex with somebody who is actually interested in what _I_ want. Not just merely fucking, desiring me for my looks or my fame.” His voice broke a bit at this point and he sniffled. 

“Even though I can’t believe it… you love me as a person, with all of my flaws and everything. I...I don’t get it how. I just...feel pure love for the first time in my life.” Richard blinked his eyes and looked at Paul with the eyes of a scared animal, so vulnerable. “And it’s pretty fucking terrifying, to be honest - I don’t know how I should be. You read me like an open book. Everything you do sends me to seventh Heaven, I just can’t help it.”

Now, tears started to gather into Paul’s eyes as well. “You don’t have to be scared, I’ll do everything to make you feel good,” Paul mumbled to Richard’s hair. “Just promise to be open to me, please.”

Something vague came out of Richard’s mouth, but Paul couldn’t get what he actually said. Now, Paul looked at Richard straight in the eyes and kept his hands on his shoulders reassuringly. “I’ve always looked up to you,” he started and put his other hand on Richard’s nape, dragging him so close that their foreheads were touching each other, their breathing synchronized. “You should know that you are a magnificent person - that’s why I didn’t have any other choice than fall in love with you. My heart was filled with pure joy when I learned that you had feelings for me as well. I was so fucking scared I would lose my old friend, basically my _everything_ , but instead, it ended up even better than I could have ever imagined.”

Richard blinked his eyes and Paul swiped the tears from his cheeks. “You have gone through too much of terrible shit in your life, but still, look at you,” Paul stated firmly and glanced at the man in front of him with the eyes of pure adoration. “You are still standing with your own two feet after all these years when someone else could have just easily given up already - but you never did and never will. You are so fucking strong that I can’t even comprehend it. I don’t know how you do it, but I have always respected you and always will. Nothing’s gonna change my mind.”

At this point, Richard started to cry even more - Paul’s sweet words at the same time when he was on the peak were just too much. This had never happened before with anyone in the past - and he wouldn’t have dared to cry this openly with anyone even.

“Every word I say, I mean them,” Paul continued and cupped Richard’s cheek with his other hand. “You are a freaking warrior. And I’m not letting anything to set us apart or anything bad happen to you. I will protect you forever.

You are invincible. And you are _mine_ , as I am _yours_. _Until death tear us apart_ , mein Richard.”

A silence fell upon them as Richard was too dumbfounded to say anything. 

_Fucking hell, how much I love that man._

At the same time, Richard was, of course, flattered by the words, but still having difficulty with his self-esteem so it was hard to believe that the other man was speaking the truth.

“Jesus,” Richard finally mumbled and sniffled. “Can you just... stop being that sweet? Stop being so you, as you are so fucking adorable I can’t stand it.”

“No,” Paul stated and kissed the stains from tears on Richard’s cheek. “Because you must learn to admit that I am always right.”

They both let out a shaky chuckle. 

“Honestly, I just love you way fucking too much,” Richard said.

“I love you too,” Paul answered and leaned himself once again for a kiss. It didn’t even trouble Richard the slightest bit that Paul had just minutes ago been busy with swallowing his intimate male parts, tasting quite unique.

After sharing a painfully emotional moment together, Richard was pleased to see that Paul was turning to look his flirtatious self again.

Richard managed to form a grin. “I didn’t say at any point that you should stop though as it’s getting pretty...close.”

Paul didn’t answer anything, but climbed out of Richard’s lap again and positioned himself back to his former place. The ancient wooden floor creaked a bit and when Paul looked up and grinned Richard was mirroring his expression as well, nodding reassuringly at the same time.

When Paul took him inside his mouth again Richard simply closed his eyes and arched his head back, letting out a contented gasp. He trusted that whatever Paul was going to do, it was going to be perfect.

_A perfect moment with a perfect man._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I checked are humans capable of purring and it seems so. Couldn't resist giving this lovely little trait to Richard in my universe then, hehe.
> 
> Still most likely one chapter to go for this fic, but then I have several new story ideas, so you'll perhaps never get rid of my little gay stories. ~


	5. Chocolate chip cookie trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sweet little Paulchard syrup, inoculated into your veins, here you are. ~

The warm water of the shower felt heavenly on his delicate skin - but not as heavenly as the caresses of his partner. Paul arched his back and let out a content gasp. The waterdrops were accompanied by Richard’s tender kisses on his neck leaving red imprints that denoted: _this man here, he’s mine._ All the concerns of the outside world had vanished - a rare occasion of living your life in the moment without regretting things from the past or stressing out the future. 

Paul was sure that he could stay like this _forever_.

But all the good things had to end eventually. Richard stopped his oral performance on the neck and transferred his focus now on Paul’s arm. He caressed it gently and draw circles on it without explaining anything further.

A bit disappointed when the lovely kissing had ended without his permission, Paul hesitantly opened his eyes and gave his partner a puzzled look. “Something wrong?”

Richard moved his gaze to Paul’s eyes and answered: “Absolutely not.” Then he moved his eyes back to where they were and kept stroking the arm, mesmerized by the illustrations on the skin. “I’m just afraid that I might have a confession number 1000 like there weren’t enough them already.”

Paul’s curiosity was now ignited. “Oh, I’m dying to know, so just tell me everything.”

Letting out a chuckle, Richard said: “I have always thought your tattoos are utterly sexy but didn’t want to say it out loud earlier as it might have been a bit… weird to call your friend hot.”

For a second Richard was stopped by a train of thought that kept carrying on. _Or wait, have I said that out loud once when I was drunk?_ he tried to recall, but his memory was hazy - especially when he tried to think about those numerous drunken nights when he had always tried as discreetly as possible to steal all the private moments he could with his fellow guitarist.

“To be honest,” Paul said and smirked, “I might have noticed that you have been interested in my tattoos before. And you _might_ have slipped out something even before we were together, I’m afraid.”

Richard blushed a little. “Whoops, I got caught then.” Then, his eyes grew wide when he started to comprehend Paul’s last sentence. _You might have slipped something out._ “W-wait, what did you mean, what have I said and when?”

“I remember as clear as a day that one afterparty in the last tour when you besieged me into a corner and tried to convince me to perform topless in every show.” Paul chuckled when he recalled the hilarious, yet back then a confusing moment. “Your reasoning for it was that everybody deserved to see my gorgeous abs and tattoos. Pity though that I didn’t record it.”

Richard threw his hands in the air and tried desperately to defend himself. “You’re putting words into my mouth now, I-I didn’t… didn’t say that!” His stammering wasn’t very convincing though.

“ _Yes_ , you said. I admit I was bemused, yet flattered, but I thought you said those things because you were drunk. I didn’t want to set my hopes too high as I didn’t know then what was going on between us,” Paul stated and took a grip from Richard’s shoulders. He leaned closer, whispering: “I tried to persuade you to do the same, but you didn’t want to even though how much I complimented your gorgeous belly.”

“No, you must be lying, I…” Richard mumbled, embarrassed. _What else I might have said to him while being drunk? Shit…_

Grasping Richard from his nape and dragging him close to his face, Paul asked: “But guess what?”

Richard raised an eyebrow and held his breath. “If it’s something embarrassing about me I’m not sure do I want to know.”

On purpose, Paul lingered on the moment and kept scrutinizing his partner’s perplexed eyes while the atmosphere was getting tense between them. 

Just before Richard was about to say something, Paul simply stated: “Just that shut up and kiss me.”

Richard exhaled and chuckled slightly. “That’s the spirit,” he said and licked his lips quickly before he was already meeting his partner’s lips. Just moments ago, Paul had performed excellent oral sex to him ending up them both being dirty - literally and metaphorically. In fact, their whole room looked like a tempest had been rampaging there: when Paul had freed Richard finally from the handcuffs, they both had been busy stripping each other, not bothering at all where the clothes might end up. Richard had then carried Paul to the shower like they would have been a newly-wed couple. It had looked utterly ridiculous and they had giggled like two teenage girls - but the amusement didn’t have a chance to last for long.

While they were still sharing wet and hot kisses, Richard kept pushing himself tighter and tighter against his companion’s body resulting in Paul being almost squeezed between the wall and Richard, but it didn’t matter. To be honest, Paul’s focus was more on the solid male organ that was poking his own groin disturbingly. 

Paul had been sure that he would have already been sent to the seventh heaven when he had heard the animalistic growl of Richard followed by the spasms of the insane orgasm - and the fact that he was the only reason for it still felt ridiculously sexy. The tingling feeling that had started from his soles had climbed to his burning crotch. _Damn it, hurry up now love or I can’t stand it anymore_ , Paul thought by himself.

Richard gave a quick smooch to Paul’s arm and then let him go from his grip, crouching a bit so it would be easier to access his lover’s nipple. While Paul couldn’t complain to be nibbed, he wasn’t nearly as loud as Richard had been - instead, he just grunted through his gritted teeth. Paul was sure that Richard was lingering on purpose, as revenge what he had been going through on Paul’s mercy only minutes ago. _Little bastard._

With a smack, Richard withdrew from Paul’s chest and straightened his back. He interrogatively looked at Paul into the eyes. For a moment though he didn’t say anything until he flicked his tongue and grinned slyly. “Say to me out loud, what do you want,” he cooed with a disgustingly sweet voice. “I want to hear it from you.”

“Jesus,” Paul snorted and glimpsed downwards. “Haven’t I made it quite clear already?”

Richard tilted his head and tried to look innocent, failing miserably though. “Maybe, maybe not,” he said and licked his lips. “But I just want to hear it with the lovely voice of yours.”

Paul shook his head. “Bastard.” _Oh well, I teased him enough so maybe I deserve this._ He was quivering for excitement and being restless - especially his poor male organ that was screaming to be freed from its agony, _now._

“So, can you just tell me what do you want and I’m happy to give it to you, Paulchen,” Richard purred while he put his hand resting on Paul’s thigh, irritatingly close to the sensitive parts.

“Just give me a fucking orgasm now, with a style of your own choice. I don’t care, unless I don’t have to finish myself off,” Paul had to burst out.

Richard’s mouth opened and he acted like he was in shock from what he had just heard. “Oho, wasn’t that straightforward.” He put a finger on Paul’s lip. “You should watch your dirty tongue, _love_.”

Paul gripped Richard’s shoulders and tried to press him down. “Enough rambling already. Do as I say before I get angry.”

For a purpose, Richard was resisting Paul’s not so gentle pushing and just kept grinning like an idiot. “Take it easy Liebling, I’m just fooling with you, nothing personal.” He leaned back a little and admired the sight in front of him. “I enjoy seeing you like this way too much though.”

The comment resulted in Richard getting a wet slap to his ass. He yelped and realized that maybe he should actually now do as he had been commanded or he had to meet the consequences he didn’t have any clue what they could be. Maybe Paul would chain him in the shower for the rest of the night or something else as nasty. Or spank him with a belt. Or throw him out to sleep in a tent - who could possibly know. Richard had a feeling that at some point, he wanted to push the envelope and see where Paul’s limits were and how he would act - but now it wasn’t the right time. 

Richard gave Paul the one last kiss and with his still rigid legs he kneeled down to the slippery floor. For a second he admired the sight in front of him and grasped Paul’s penis in his hand, squeezing it teasingly. When Paul let out a helpless gasp, Richard didn’t hesitate anymore but took Paul’s full length into his mouth.

“Shittt… holy hell,” Paul muttered. He saw stars in front of his eyes and he was scared that he might faint soon and collapse to the floor as his knees were about to betray him. Not a good idea to be blown while standing, but he hadn’t thought about it so far. There were more important matters.

From Paul’s trembling and constant chants of various swear words, Richard could tell that his lover was on the verge. Even though it was extremely pleasing to listen to those heavenly sounds - only caused by him - Richard didn’t want to tease his poor partner anymore. With the one last suck, Richard let Paul finally come.

“FUCK!” Paul yelped when his knees finally gave up and his brain was shut down completely.

Before Paul hit the floor though Richard grabbed him from his armpits. “You okay?” he asked with a hint of concern in his voice. “Did you hurt yourself?”

“Y-yes and no,” Paul mumbled and Richard guided them both to sit on the floor properly. The water was still running but neither of them bothered to do anything for it - they just kept sitting next to each other, both panting and enjoying the warm feeling.

Even though his brain felt still cloudy, Paul was slowly coming back to his senses. From the corner of his eye, he saw that Richard was licking his lips while he realized something. “Did you… swallow?” Paul asked and turned to look at his partner with wide eyes.

A sly smile sported on Richard’s face when he said: “Yup, most of it. Are you proud of me?”

“Oh shit, sorry, I didn’t realize while I was… umm...” Paul mumbled. “I should have warned you or… something. I’m so sorry.”

“You didn’t realize what? That you might come when I have your penis in my mouth?” Richard said and let out a burst of genuine laughter while Paul still looked horrified. 

Richard earned once again a slap, this time to his thigh. “I didn’t mean it like that!” Paul exclaimed. 

“Chill out, there was absolutely no need to warn me beforehand. I enjoyed myself fully as did you, I could tell,” Richard added and tried not to smirk when Paul was still annoyed. He stroked his thigh and continued: “It was not your fault. Honestly, I don’t mind and you taste good.”

“Too much information…” Paul mumbled. Leaning back, he closed his eyes and put his arm to hide his face. “Please, don’t tell me more about my bodily fluids, I’m already embarrassed enough.”

“And did you know that sperm consists of 200 separate proteins, as well as vitamins and minerals?” Richard teased as he was in the right mood for it now. “Isn’t it fascinating that we hold inside us that kind of a health bomb? All we need to do is to have sex constantly and then--”

“Since when have you started to care about what the freaking semen contains?” Paul was worried that the rambling would go on if he didn’t stop it now.

“Hey, since now when we are together I’ve done my homework about male anatomy,” Richard said and smirked.

“Thanks for the most useless information on this planet. Just what I wanted to know right now: what is semen’s composition. Oh please, darling, tell me more,” Paul quibbled and didn’t bother to open his eyes. He was sure that if he opened them he would be only met with a sly looking Richard who was enjoying his own ridiculous bantering a bit too much. Instead of granting his lover that joy, Paul wanted to enjoy his sweet little aftermath without interruptions.

Richard gently moved Paul’s arm from his face and cupped his cheeks. Now the other man had to hesitantly open his eyes. “But don’t worry, I assure you that I’m done with my teasing for tonight. Have to save something for later,” Richard said and pressed a small peck on Paul’s forehead. “Are you mad at me?”

“You silly little man, come here,” Paul said and took Richard into his embrace. “I want more of this and less of your information about... things that aren’t so interesting, to be honest.”

They chuckled together and remained there silent for a lovely little moment. It was getting hard to breath in the tiny cubicle though so Richard finally shut the shower down and opened the door. Neither of them made a move to leave anywhere and Richard sat back right next to Paul, their sides touching each other. 

Paul lied down and positioned his head to rest on Richard’s lap - now without kinky thoughts, even though Paul couldn’t help it but notice that the other man was still half hard.

Raising an eyebrow and quickly glancing at Richard’s groin Paul asked: “You aren’t done yet?”

“Sorry, no can do when the sexiest man on this planet is on my lap,” Richard replied and gave Paul a sweet smile. “I don’t have a stamina of a 17-year-old anymore though, so you can just relax.”

They both laughed and then didn’t share a word - just enjoying the silence and euphoria together. Richard kept humming some melody Paul didn’t recognize - he closed his eyes, almost dozing off in the sweet moment. 

Richard stopped his silent chanting and looked at the wall in front of him with dreamy eyes. “Like I wouldn’t have ever doubted you, but damn, you were good. Even better than I expected.”

While being half asleep, Paul muttered. “Thanks.”

“But what surprised me the most was your creativity. How on earth did you come up with that all?”

Now Paul had to open his eyes and he yawned. “Well, all I can say is that I have my vivid imagination with a bit of help of my resources.”

Richard moved his gaze to look at Paul with wide eyes. “Ohh, that’s fascinating, I’m dying to know more.”

“Even though we are together now I want to keep some things as my secrets,” Paul said nonchalantly and closed his eyes again. “But I assure you that I’m more than willing to show you what I have learned when my knowledge grows. Patience, my dear.”

“Have you watched gayporn and taken notes?” Richard burst out.

Paul opened his eyes again and looked at his partner above him. “I’m terribly sorry, but nope.” 

When Richard looked almost a bit disappointed Paul continued: “Seriously, do you think I’d watch gayporn in my precious free time? Or do you wish I would have watched?”

“Hey, just asking, as I don’t know what you are doing when I’m not supervising you.”

Paul chuckled. “Oh mein Gott…”

Being a stubborn man, Richard kept bombing Paul with his speculations. “Don’t say you borrowed all the anatomical Atlas’ you can find from the library…”

“I don’t have a medical kink or anything, relax,” Paul snorted.

“Erotic novels? Those cheesy softporns you can find from supermarkets just before the counter?” Richard asked without even listening to the former reply.

Paul was silent for a second, not meeting his partner’s eyes, when he admitted: “Well to be honest, sorta… yes.” 

Now Richard wasn’t sure should he be proud of his partner or utterly scared what ideas he might have in his pocket. “Oh man, don’t tell me that you’ve been reading Fifty Shades or something…”

Paul burst into laughter. “Jesus, how low do you think I’ve sunken? Definitely not Fifty Shades, but something more… interesting and creative is all I can tell you at this point.”

Turning serious, Richard said: “What are you doing behind my back, Paulchen?”

Paul turned his gaze away and smiled slyly by himself. “Not gonna tell you, but you should be just happy that I’m learning new things how to please you.” He poked Richard’s chest when he continued: “And remember, I now know how I can shut you down if you annoy me enough, so I’d suggest choosing your words wisely, Liebling.” 

“Was that a warning?” Richard asked and tilted his head, looking at Paul curiously.

Paul sighed and closed his eyes. “Vielleicht.”

Shaking his head, Richard mumbled by himself: “You surely are a mysterious man. What did I sign up for when I started being together with you...”

“But you still love me, right?” Paul asked half-joking and half concerned.

Richard bent down and was only inches away from Paul’s face when he stated the obvious: “Always and forever.”

They kissed each other in an uncomfortable bent position and at first, they didn’t hear the thudding and muttering that was coming from their room.

“Paul? Reesh?” a familiar voice called. “Are you here?”

Paul opened his eyes wide and looked at Richard who mirrored his terrified look. “Oh shit, don’t tell me…” Paul whispered and raised his head from his partner’s lap.

But before neither of them could act anyhow, the door of the bathroom opened. There stood a genuinely terrified figure who started rambling: “Gott im Himmel guys, what the hell is happening here? Are you ok?” the man asked and looked around. “Is there someone else here, what the hell has been happening, your place is a total mess…”

“Well, hello to you too Till, has it been a nice evening?” Richard cooed purposefully with an innocent voice. “What brings you here at this time of the day?” 

Paul next to him started to giggle hysterically while Richard used all his willpower to stay deadpanned.

“What the…” Till mumbled.

“Relax, alles gut,” Richard assured.

Till was now speechless: what he had seen when he had broken into the room - wondering, why the hell there had been an armchair blocking the door - were clothes scattered everywhere, a messed up bed and dirty tissues. What had puzzled him the most though were handcuffs, neatly in the middle of the floor. For a moment, Till had been sure that their guitarists had been kidnapped by French mafia or something. 

But now when the singer saw their band’s lovebirds sitting in the shower together naked, not bothering to hide as there was absolutely no point in it, he rolled his eyes. _Okay, I get it now…_

Till cleared his throat and moved his gaze to the floor when he said: “Well, you have been gone for hours, our hosts got concerned about where you have disappeared and most importantly, Schneider insisted that you should participate in a contest they just invented with Flake.” 

“What contest?” Richard asked and ignored Till’s other rambling. 

Glancing quickly at his two bandmates and not trying to think too much what they might have been doing, Till answered: “Well, Naïri and Adélaide were kind enough to bake chocolate chip cookies for us, so Flake and Schneider thought that it would be a cool idea to compete who can stuff in the most cookies the fastest.”

Richard and Paul glanced at each other and then back at Till. “Seriously, what the hell, why?” Paul asked and chuckled. Normally, his curiosity would have been ignited, but tonight he had something more important matters to think. “What is the prize?”

“Anything between a wet kiss from Schneider to a personal audiobook from Flake rambling about his failed antique car businesses. I have no clue, to be honest as I’m not taking a part in it. ” Till crossed his arms and blocked the door, looking like a bodyguard. “But Schneider was missing especially you, Paul.”

“Me?” Paul asked and pointed at himself.

“Yes, Schneider was insisting that you _must_ come or you have to meet his wrath,” Till said and stroked his hair awkwardly. “But as you seem busy, I guess I have to tell you that you are not interested. I’m not responsible for the consequences though.”

Paul gulped. Schneider’s wrath sounded something so terrifying that maybe they just had to do what the drummer asked from them. Standing up, he said: “We… we are ready to come, just give us a minute to prepare ourselves.”

Till nodded, but still, he didn’t look so convinced. “Holy shit you scared me when I saw the mess, you should clean up after yourselves before the girls see it. It’s not very polite to mess up someone else’s house like that, especially when they have invited us so kindly here,” he lectured.

“I know, I know, but don’t you worry about us,” Richard said and flashed an innocent smile. “We will clean and it will look like we have never even been here. You’ll see.”

Till was about to retreat when he still had something on his mind. “Just one thing I don’t understand,” he asked and looked like his awkward self again. 

Holding his breath, Richard asked: “Y-yes?”

“Why do you have handcuffs on your floor?”

Richard and Paul looked at each other, like mentally asking _how much should we tell?_

“It’s a long story and as Richard said, don’t you worry about us,” Paul assured. “So bye-bye, see you soon.”

Till shrugged and turned his back, mumbling by himself: “Whatever…” _I don’t get what those two are up to, but maybe it’s better that I stay in my oblivious bliss._

When the singer was gone, Paul and Richard turned to each other, trying to keep a poker face: but it was Richard who cracked up at first soon followed by Paul. The laughter grew louder and louder and they couldn’t stop. Instead, they just rolled themselves into small balls and kept giggling on the wet shower floor, rolling around and holding their bellies.

“Holy shit…” Paul started, trying to comment on something about the incident. “I-I can’t..” his stomach started to hurt from the laughter but he couldn’t stop. 

“Did you… did you see his face…” Richard asked and they both started to giggle hysterically again.

When they managed to calm down at least a bit, Richard wiped tears from his eyes. “That was a classic indeed. Till has earned his old title of a ‘cockblocker’ with a reason.”

Still lying on the floor and holding his belly, Paul looked at Richard and said: “Cockblocked, only _almost_ this time, thank God.”

Richard turned serious. “Next time we should be more careful perhaps. Imagine if it would have been Naïri or Adélaide.”

“Would have been a bit explaining to do then,” Paul said and sat, still wiping tears from his eyes. “‘Isn’t it a nice evening’ dear Christ, we are so awful that poor Tillie must be traumatized now…”

“Nah, it was his own fault, he shouldn’t have disturbed us. If he breaks in, we don’t have to be responsible for the consequences,” Richard stated confidently. “Besides, he’s not the one to complain when you look at his frenetic past with groupies…”

“Probably true,” Paul said before a minute of silence fell upon them.

When they had calmed down enough they both stood up and finally managed to get out of the shower when it got too cold to stay there anymore. They knew, of course, a way to keep each other warm, but now it was a bit inappropriate as they had already promised to join the others again. 

When they saw the room now with different eyes they had to admit that it was a damn mess in there. Richard stopped and looked around, water dripping from his moist hair to the floor. “Jesus, I didn’t realize it looked like this. No wonder Till was so confused.”

“Maybe we had something else to think then,” Paul said and dried his body quickly before he jumped into his boxers, ready for the upcoming action. Then he started folding the clothes back to his bag while Richard had frozen to his place, staring at the lovely sight.

Paul glared at Richard. “I’m not your personal Hausfrau, so get your gorgeous ass here and help me.” 

~***~

The dining room had changed only in a couple of hours: the awkward atmosphere had been pushed away for cheerful, drunken chattering that was getting louder and louder exponentially with the percentage of alcohol. Even the shyest members of the tour staff were relaxed: one guy from the light team was trying his oral skills while talking with the French hosts in their mother tongue - failing miserably, but they seemed to have fun at least.

When the guitarists came back Richard went straight to sit to the same table with Till and Flake and started talking with them like nothing had happened. 

Before Paul could join them though he got stopped by Schneider. “Hey, Paulieeee, what’s up?” the drummer exclaimed cheerfully, loyal to his own drunken style that had become familiar to Paul during all these years when they had known each other. “Where have you been, it was sooo boring without you!”

“Well, I was b--” Paul started and was interrupted when Schneider handed him a beer.

Paul looked at the cold can in his hand. “What is this for?”

Schneider smiled smugly and poked Paul at his chest. “Just relax and get drunk with us!”

Politely, Paul put the beverage aside. “I had other plans for tonight than getting wasted, but thanks for the offer.” He glanced behind his back and hoped that Schneider could release him soon so he could join Richard and the others.

But Schneider kept swaying vaguely side to side and hummed some random melody Paul couldn’t recognize. Suddenly, he stopped and tried to concentrate on looking at Paul with his unfocused eyes.

“What?” Paul asked when the gaze made him feel uncomfortable enough.

“Oh man, don’t you say…” Schneider said and giggled by himself.

Paul sighed. “Dear Christ, get sober and then we can talk.” _I’ve seen this before somewhere…_ He decided he would retreat finally before this was going to escalate.

But just when Paul was about to sneak out from his friend’s eagle eye, Schneider grabbed him from the shoulder and whispered: “That you just had…” he started and pointed at Richard, “sex with him.”

A hot wave rushed on Paul’s cheek. _Is it that visible?_ “How… how much have you been drinking tonight?”

“Hah, gotcha, you are a terrible liar, Paulie!” Schneider shouted and looked like a winner with his smug smirk. To Paul’s horror, he kept going on: “No wonder it took so long from you. Tell me everything, was he any good?” The exclamation was a bit too loud and curious gazes were directed towards them.

Paul just waved his fellow bandmate goodbye and shook his head. “None of your business, enjoy your contest with Flake.”

“Hey, we’ve been waiting the whole night for you to participate as well! Don’t you dare to back off now!”

But Paul didn’t listen - instead, he sat down to the floor in front of Richard, sighing and laughing at the same time.

Without even noticing that his hands were immediately finding their way on Paul’s shoulders, Richard started massaging him and asked: “Alles gut?”

“Yes, Schneider’s just being his stupid self.”

Richard might have had a clue what Paul was talking about, but he still continued: “What did he want to know then?” 

Paul leaned back and closed his eyes, enjoying the firm hands on his weary shoulders. “Doesn’t matter, but I’d suggest to avoid him for the rest of the evening.”

~***~

As planned, the night went on with Schneider and Flake stuffing as much chocolate cookies as they could while Naïri and Adélaide were busy baking more for their greedy German guests. The guys from the pyro staff were having their own disco in the hallway as they weren’t so interested in participating in the contest. The main thing was that they were having the time of their lives.

With a loud electronic music in the background, Richard sneaked out to the terrace for a smoke and Paul joined him after he had made sure that nobody was stalking what they were doing. 

“Isn’t it lovely here in the countryside when you can see the stars and all?” Paul asked at the same time when he nicked a cigarette from his partner’s pocket. Paul knew where Richard kept his precious cancer rolls and didn’t hesitate to use the fact ruthlessly whenever he had a chance.

Richard handed Paul a lighter and didn’t even mind when his pocket had been intruded. “Surprisingly pleasant, I have to admit.” He turned around and looked at the house where loud music and shouting could be heard. “I just hope the girls are not disappointed now when we aren’t so civilized as they might have thought.”

“I don’t think so. Maybe we’ll volunteer to clean up the whole place tomorrow when everyone else is sleeping their hangover away.”

Richard wiggled his eyebrows. “Cleaning or ‘cleaning’ with some benefits? Are you finally going to be my Hausfrau?”

Paul shook his head. “Don’t get any ideas.” Then, he came closer and grasped Richard from his chin. “And if somebody is going to be a Hausfrau here, it’s _you._ ”

Blinking his eyes in confusion for a moment Richard gathered himself and tried to answer something witty back: “You can only blame yourself as you have made me even more disgusting than what I was before.” At the same time, Richard wrapped his arm around Paul’s waist.

They both remained silent for a while, just enjoying the stars and their smokes before Richard turned to Paul. “Honestly, if we put that shit about Hausfraus aside…”

“You first started it so don’t you dare to blame me,” Paul said and smirked. When Richard pouted, he had to turn more serious. “But yes, carry on.”

“Well, what I was about to say was that you are the best thing that has happened to me in my life. Thank you for existing.”

“My pleasure,” Paul said and leaned in to steal a quick kiss when there were no curious eyes around them.

But their intimate moment was interrupted when Schneider opened the door and yelled loudly over the funky music: “Ugh, you should get a room, that’s gross!” 

Stepping out and ignoring the piercing glares of the guitarists, Schneider continued: “But hey, guess who won the contest! I think though the bathroom will be occupied as that amount of chocolate might have been a bit too much for our Tastenficker’s intestines to handle...”

Still being close to Paul, in a half embrace, Richard whispered: “Let’s get out of here before he gets too excited. Or emotional. Or both. Or forces us to some other bizarre contest of his.”

Before Paul could even nod, Richard grabbed his hand and they both ran to the dark night.

“Hey, where do you think you are going?” Schneider yelled, but to no avail. “Jesus…” he muttered by himself and thought for a while in his drunken brain should he follow the guitarists, just to annoy them.

Before the decision was made, a huge bear palm grabbed Schneider’s shoulder and dragged him in. “Let the lovebirds be. I think it’s time for you to go to bed.”

~***~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to wrap up this silly little fluffy fic and move on. As always, thanks for reading. ^-^
> 
> The next part of this series is going to be a bit darker and with some juicy angst, so stay tuned!


End file.
